Vengeance
by Mandy1229
Summary: Dick blackmails Mac with her father's medical needs to gain vengence for an incident while in college. Ten years later, he makes plans to get what he wants.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: One of the more consistant reviews of my stories mentioned she had a birthday on May 16, she wanted more Dick and Mac stories. Well I found an almost complete story on my thumb drive and this is for Suzanne. Oh, she is also getting you an update tomorrow for Neptune.

Vengence

Chapter One

Dick eavesdropped on Veronica's conversation with Logan via Skype and gave a triumphant smile as he quietly walked away. He wasn't thrilled that Logan was back on the roller coaster called Veronica Mars but at least it had done one thing.

It had given him access to information; to a way to make a certain someone pay. In his bedroom, he looked up the number of the doctor who had been selling scripts to 09ers for years and said "I want a medical file."

"I can't do that. It could get me fired." She said.

"Yes, it could but if you don't do as I ask, you will find out that the California Medical board will get an anonymous tip about how you paid off your student loans so quickly and you will not only get fired but will go to jail. So which will it be, could or would?" He asked.

"Who's file?" She queried.

Dick opened the file he had hidden in a place not even Veronica Mars would look in and found the name. "Sam Mackenzie. You have a half hour."

Hearing squawking from the other end of the line, he just hung up, knowing she would do as he had asked. Putting an alarm on his phone to let him know when thirty minutes was up, he went back down to the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge and made it look like he had been on the back patio when Mars came out from the study.

"So did Logan and you have phone sex?" He leered and when she glared at him, he shrugged and said "Hey you do what you got to do to get your freak on."

When she just shook her head and walked away, he drained the beer and went inside to see her car pulling out of the driveway. Watching as she went west that meant more than likely she was heading back to the hospital, he went back upstairs and grabbed the file on his desk and went over what else was in there.

With a cold smile he said "It took almost nine years but this time I have you right where I want you, Cindy."

The phone rang mere seconds before the alarm went off. "So, what did you find?"

"Sam Mackenzie needs a transplant and he is going to be a difficult match, plus his insurance won't cover much of the transplant. He is starting to rack up some major medical bills."

Dick thanked her and hit end before going to the bathroom and showering, shaving and even brushing his teeth. Dressing in one of the expensive tailored suits that he had gotten when he considered taking the job offered to him the previous year he grabbed the keys to his Mercedes and with a bit of pep to his step went to get some vengeance.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac listened stoically as the doctor told her mother the latest on her dad's condition. She had even gotten a sample of tissue from Madison, though the blond didn't know it and she hadn't been a match. The chances of finding the needed tissue from a non family member donor were rare at best and with the financial issues, after all this was Neptune, she knew that there was a good chance she was going to lose her dad.

Holding her mom as she cried, Mac saw Veronica down the hallway and when her mom had calmed down she walked to where her friend was hovering. "Did you find out what happened to the liver?"

Nodding soberly, she pulled Mac down the hallway and said "The hospital gave it to another patient. Someone who was transferred in last night via private helicopter. He was moved up in front of your dad because he was a better candidate."

"So it wasn't because he was richer, it was because he was sicker." She said relieved a bit at that knowledge; that it hadn't been about money.

Veronica nodded and when Mac teared up, she hugged her friend. "We will find a way, Mac. I promise."

"It might not matter." She said sadly. "His insurance company did some cost benefit analysis and have decided that paying for the transplant isn't good business. They say that the present treatment is working to keep him alive. When I commented on how he is alive but that it isn't a good life, I was told that he had the option of going off the meds."

"How can they do that?" She asked shocked at the callousness of the insurance company. "If he stops taking the medicine, he would die. That would be murder."

"No, if he stops taking the meds, it is considered suicide and they also wouldn't have to pay out on his life insurance." Mac said with a bitter twist to her lips. "So unless I find a way to pay for the transplant myself, he is going to be bedridden for the rest of his life."

"Mac, let me ask him to help." She said repeating an argument she had had repeatedly with Mac. Logan had offered but Mac refused to even consider being in his debt. She didn't get it, Mac had said she would do anything to save her father but yet she refused to do the one thing that would.

"I won't be indebted to Logan or anyone else. I don't like the quid pro quo of it." Mac said harshly then walked back to where her mom was exiting her dad's hospital room. Hugging her and listening to what she had to say she felt tears begin to overflow as her mom gave her the news.

"Your dad is considering going off the meds." She said.

Mac had been afraid he was going to take that option, as she felt her knees weaken but looking down the hallway, she saw a shadow in Veronica's eyes and knew that she hadn't told her something.

"Mom, don't let him. I will find a way to fix this." She said in a determined tone of voice and then walking back to Veronica, asked her to join her in the chapel. Once there, she said "What didn't you tell me, Veronica? Don't bother denying it."

Reluctantly, Veronica said "The man flown down here from LA, he wasn't even in the top ten of patients due to get a liver up there. He shopped around to find out where he would be first on the transplant list. He owns a small beach house here in Neptune and a week ago he declared that his primary residence so that the Transplant Organization would consider Southern California minus LA his region."

"Is he is worse off than my dad?" She asked intently and saw Veronica's eyes slide to the right. "What?"

"Yes, but he was considered equal to your dad when it came to who got the liver, however he has connections to your dad's insurance company." She said sadly. "He used that to get your dad's insurance company to put a hold on your dad's possible transplant and his friends influence to do the rest."

"How?" Mac asked grimly.

"Through Celeste Kane and the Sinclairs." She admitted.

Mac's eyes closed as pain ripped through her at the knowledge that her biological parents had helped this man hurt her dad. Walking away, almost numb, she was exiting the chapel when Veronica said that they would deal with it.

"No, it's over." Mac said sick to realize she couldn't quit her job, that her mom was going to need her financial help and she was stuck working for the Kanes for at least a few more years.

Then there were the Sinclairs, that they had done this, had her sick to her stomach. Leaving the hospital, she drove to street they lived on and sat in her car, staring at the house she could have grown up in and wanted nothing more than to throw a rock through the window.

Pulling away, she went to check on her seventeen year old brother who was getting ready to be a senior at Neptune High. He should have been the star receiver on the football team but was on the second string due to outside influence. As she felt the helplessness of the mess that money had created in Neptune, she heard her phone ringing.

Looking at the unknown number, she was not going to answer it but did on the off chance it was about her father. "Hello?"

"We need to meet. Dog Beach in twenty minutes."

Hanging up, Mac ignored the order and went inside her childhood home. Checking on Ryan who was making himself a sandwich, she asked "Are you okay?"

"Mom refuses to see that I am almost an adult." He said with a wry smile as Mac took in the almost six foot blond with green eyes standing in front of her. He was handsome that much was for sure, but what got to Mac was how kind he had turned out to be as he had grown up. "I let her send me home so that she would feel better but does she really think that I am going to go to sleep."

"I know." She said hugging him and a bit surprised to find him hugging her back very tightly. "I will fix this, Ryan."

"It is what is, Cindy." He said then seated at the counter told her "We have to face that, it's not like any of us has a spare quarter of a million dollars lying around and even if he had the transplant, I am sure the insurance company will come up with a reason not to pay for the anti-rejection meds."

Mac's eyes closed as she realized she hadn't even thought about that part of the equation. "I just feel so helpless."

"Helpless? You?" He asked and Mac looked at him and saw he was serious. "Cin, you did all you could. You and I both know that for the last several months you have been the glue holding us together. I also know that your friend Logan offered to help pay for the transplant and that dad rejected it."

Mac rejected the idea that Logan was her friend, he had quickly faded away from her life once Veronica was gone. At most he was an acquaintance, if he had truly been her friend he would have stayed in touch.

"It is dad's decision, Cindy. At this point, all we can do is accept that we can't change things." He said as he reached for his sandwich.

Mac's phone was ringing as she left the house an hour later. Seeing it was the same unknown number she hit ignore and when the light flashed to tell her she had a message, she erased it without listening.

Back at the hospital, she did a little reconnaissance and found the patient who had manipulated things in his favor and wrote down his name. Vowing revenge when she saw him already sitting up and on his cell phone making calls, Mac went to check up on her dad.

Seeing him lying flat, his skin a very unhealthy gray had her growing angry all over again. Listening to his nurse speaking quietly to him, she asked "Have you seen my mother?"

"She is in the chapel." The nurse said and told Mac "Dr. Vista won't let your dad be passed over, Ms. Mackenzie. He took this back to the hospital transplant team. They are determined to make sure that this newest liver isn't given to another patient."

"Newest liver?" She asked in shock. "I-what?"

"Oh dear, I thought your mom might have called you. There is a patient who is brain dead but being kept on life support. He is a match for your father. Dr. Vista is working with the transplant team to get your father's insurance company to reconsider the transplant."

"Thank you." Mac said feeling her spirits rise a little at that information.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick saw Mac exiting the chapel where her mother was praying and walked over. "I told you to meet me at Dog Beach."

Ignoring him, she was heading back to her dad's hospital room when he stopped her, pulled her back so that he could whisper in her ear "Either you listen to what I have to say or that transplant goes away. So which will it be, Mac?"

Turning to tell him he had nothing to do with this, she saw him dressed in a suit and the smug expression on his face and said "What have you done, Dick?"

"There is a private conference room on twelve. Be there in ten minutes, Mac. I mean it, be there or that liver goes to someone else." He said with warning glance.

"What could we possibly have to talk about?" She sneered.

"Someone once told me that vengeance was a dish best served cold. I tried revenge while the anger still burned red hot inside of me but it didn't work. This time, it's cold as ice." He said the black expression in his eyes at war with the way that Mac was used to seeing Dick look. "It's simple; you want your dad to live. Well, I can make that happen. To do that, you have to give a life to me to replace the one you took."

"What life?" She asked completely confused by what he was doing. She would have thought that the pound of flesh he had extracted that summer after freshman year would have been payment for what he clearly believed was her responsibility for Beaver's suicide.

His eyes flashed then he said "You know damn well what life you took. Don't play dumb with me, Mac. I want back what you took from me. Ten minutes, Mac. Be there or you will be standing over your dad's grave in mere weeks."

Mac wanted to slap the crap right out of him, but she was drained by the emotional upheaval of the last few weeks so she could only stand there shaking her head in disgust at his taking advantage of her dad's illness this way.

After spending several minutes at her dad's hospital room door, watching as her mother cried over her dad, Mac gathered her strength and took the elevator to the twelfth floor.

"May I help you?" The security guard asked when she got off the elevator.

"I am meeting Mr. Casablancas in a conference room up here." She said grimacing as she realized this was an administrative floor not a medical floor.

"He should be heading that way any minute." The guard announced after making a telephone call. "He asked me to tell you he was in a meeting with the Neptune General Chief of Staff."

Mac tensed, knowing that was the doctor who was head of the committee that decided who received a transplant, but she kept walking towards the door with the small discreet sign declaring it a conference room.

Sitting down at the table, she took out her cell phone and called to speak to Keith Mars wanting to ask him if he had ever come across the man who had gotten the first liver.

Looking up when she felt that odd tingling she associated with someone staring at her, she saw Dick standing at the end of the table. He held an open file in his hands as he read it. "Right now, the total medical costs for your father are up over a hundred thousand dollars, Mac. I spoke to the agent at his insurance company. They want him released from the hospital tomorrow; that they are opposing the transplant."

"I know that, Dick."

He closed the file, tossed it down on the mahogany table and looked at her. "It's almost nine o'clock, tomorrow morning they will be making plans to release your father from the hospital at eight AM. You have until then to decide if you want to take the deal I am about to offer you."

"What could you possibly have to offer?" She asked sure that whatever it was would cost a huge chunk of her soul.

"Your father's transplant goes though, I pay the bill and for the anti rejection meds." He said and he saw she was about to reject it so he pointed out. "It's either me or a dirt nap. I know that pretty soon the cost of the meds will be prohibitive because the insurance company will be changing its prescription drug CO-pay for him."

Mac knew, she just knew that somehow he was behind that change so she glared at him and saw his smug grin. "So what is my payment Dick? What do you want for fixing things? We both know that it is something I won't want to pay."

"Oh I am sure of that." He said leering as he looked at her. "However, you are going into this blind. Simply put you agree to my offer. I help your dad and you do as I want."

"What is to stop me from walking away afterwards." She asked.

"Your dad is going to need those drugs the rest of his life, Mac." He said with a knowing smile. "Very expensive drugs, Mac."

"What do you want, Dick?" She repeated her early question. "I won't go into this blind. I don't trust you."

"It won't be anything illegal, I promise." He said with a mocking grin then something occurred to him and he said "It's also not anything even considered the least bit immoral either. In fact you might even say it is sanctioned by the church."

"Let me guess, the Church of Dick?" She asked inwardly hoping that he didn't know that they already had a liver and that it might be transplanted that evening.

"No, it's pretty much not considered immoral by any church anyplace in the world." He said with a smug look on his face. "So Mac, what will it be. You walk away from your dad or you agreeing to my plan?"

Mac felt sick as got ready to turn him down, worried she was gambling with her dad's life but before she could answer, he said "Oh, and I know about the liver from that brain dead man. It's part of the deal, Mac. They won't even think of turning off the equipment keeping him alive until tomorrow."

"Eleven hours, Mac," He said then looking at his watch gave her a cold look and then said "Make that a little over ten as we have been here for a good forty-five minutes."

"I want it in writing that you will do as you say." She said sure that he wouldn't agree and she would have a way out this that wouldn't make her feel guilty.

"Done." He said throwing a blue backed legal document down on the table and pushing it towards her.

Mac reached out and caught the paperwork reading beyond the legalese, she asked "I will have my attorney look it over."

"As long as it isn't Mars, I don't give a shit." He said coolly.

Nodding that she understood, Mac stood and looked at Dick. "I always knew you were a bastard but that you would take advantage of my dad's illness to get me back for the past. You make your father and your brother look charming."

He didn't even answer as he walked towards the door. "I want you at the beach house by seven tomorrow morning, Mac. Otherwise that liver will be finding a new host."

Mac's hands were trembling as she struggled to get through the papers he had sent her way. Finding that he was agreeing to help her dad in exchange for a yet unnamed project that she agreed he would have all legal rights to, she felt a sense of relief.

Apparently Dick wanted her professional services and would more than likely make her a life a living hell as she worked on it for him but it could have been much, much worse.

Going back to her dad's room, she saw that her mom seemed happier as she told Mac that they were going to perform the liver transplant the next morning. "The insurance company called the hospital. They are also going to be picking up the total cost of it."

Cynically wondering if Dick was the insurance company, she returned her Mom's hug and saw that her dad was also looking a bit better at the news his long medical drama would soon be over.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick sent Logan and e-mail, told him that he was thinking on looking for a bigger place that he was thinking on making some more permanent changes. That Logan's reunion with Veronica had spurred him into the realization that sometimes the past could be overcome.

After hitting send, he had sat back and reread what was written. "That should do it."

Going to the safe in his bedroom, Dick unlocked it and pulled out the ring inside. Looking at it, he remembered the reason it had originally been purchased and with a bitter twist threw it back inside. "Screw that. Where is the ring set that belonged to dad's second wife?"

Looking through the jewelry, he finally found the correct box and removed it from the safe. Making a call in spite of the late hour he waited until Tripp answered and said "It's Dick. I need a place near the beach. Four or five bedrooms all on the same floor, nice master suite. Media room and large garage as well as outdoor living space with a party set up. Price is no object."

"Any particular style?" He asked.

Dick thought about it and said "Nothing traditional or Victorian. Large though."

"Okay, I will call you back tomorrow with a list of what I have available." He was told.

"Fine, but I want it around nine." He replied then hanging up, made a few more calls, one that had his attorneys sighing with relief. "I want it tomorrow morning."

Going through the mental list, Dick had once last call to make and with a cruel smirk called his mother in Switzerland where her husband was stationed as an Ambassador and said "I am getting married next week."

Hearing her sharp tone as she asked who the girl was, he said "She graduated from Hearst with me, works for Kane Software and no, she isn't pregnant. Not yet anyhow."

When his mother wanted a name, Dick said "Cindy Mackenzie."

"Cassidy's ex-girlfriend?" His mother sounded surprised but not upset. "Really? She's not your usual blond air head type."

"No, she isn't. Why do you think I am marrying her?" Dick said not adding that he was blackmailing her. "We spent a lot of time together in college but then things happened. Her dad has been sick and it has drawn us together."

"I am proud of you, Richard." Dick was shocked to realize that his mom did seem to sound happy. "I was so afraid for the last few years that you would end up just like him but it sounds like you made a good choice. Like you have finally chosen to grow up."

Hanging up, a bit unsettled at the idea of finally getting his mother's approval for something, he sat there on his bed, looking at the phone, wondering what she would do if she learned the truth.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Veronica entered Logan's house, surprised at how quiet it was. Normally Dick had left the television on or music blaring when he went to bed but this morning there was no noise at all. Walking into the kitchen, sure that he had to have not come home the night before, she felt her jaw drop when she saw him standing in front of the coffee pot wearing a suit.

"Dick?"

She saw his unguarded expression when he looked her way and saw surprise and wariness in it. "Logan sent me an e-mail this morning. Worried about you."

"He shouldn't be." Dick said playing the part he planned to play in public for the next few years at least. "I meant what I told him. Its time to move on from the past. Look, what happened between the two of you, it's been... Well, not exactly inspiring because let's face it the jury is still out on the two of you. So far you two haven't been around each other much since your return. You had what, two weeks at most?"

"What are you trying to say?" She asked tersely.

"Nothing, I am hoping it works out for you this time." He said trying for sincere. "It's just this plus something else going on made me realize that I too can have that second chance."

"What happened with the first one?" She asked. "Wait, who are we talking about? Madison?"

"No, not in this lifetime or any other." He said shuddering.

Veronica's eyes went to his face and said "Who then?"

"None of your business." He said with just the right tone of belligerence. "I won't let you ruin this for me, Veronica."

Veronica didn't get what was going on, but it was very clear that Dick wasn't going to tell her anything and that she knew this girl. "What are you going to do?"

"Something I have never tried before." He said not telling her that it was blackmail and that he wasn't looking for happily ever after, only vengeance. "Talking honestly with her. Laying it all on the line."

Looking between the now finished cup of coffee to Dick she asked "Does that have Irish whiskey in it?"

"Nah, no false courage this time. Just truth and hopefully a chance to get back what I lost." He said playing her. When he saw her eyes seemed to soften, he inwardly chuckled as he took a sip of the hot coffee.

"If you need any help..." She trailed off as she grabbed her purse and keys from the counter.

Dick said "If I need your help then I have screwed this up, but thanks for the offer."

Veronica left the house a bit stunned at the difference between this Dick who seemed sober and almost an adult and the buffonish idiot with was usually drunk or stoned or worse both and knew that something was very wrong with the universe.

Heading to the hospital, she heard the news and saw that Mac didn't seem as happy as she should be. "Mac, what is it?"

"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if...never mind." She said shaking her head. "The past is just rearing its head and I am doing a little bit of the what ifs. Nothing more."

"There is a lot of that going around." Veronica said her mind on Dick as well as her relationship with Logan. With regret, she said "I have to get to the office, I have an early client meeting at seven. It's why I am so early."

Hugging her, Mac said "Don't work too hard and if you go on a stake out, don't forget to take your law books. You still have a bar exam to take."

"Call me when your dad gets out of surgery." Veronica said and then went to leave. Looking back, she saw Mac seemed melancholy as she watched her family from the doorway.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac entered the conference room and slid her signed paperwork towards Dick who was seated at the same seat she had been the day before. "Here."

"I heard your dad was wheeled into the operating room right at seven." He said without looking up from where he was making notes. Mac wanted to reach down and grab the expensive silver pen he was using and stab him straight into the heart with it.

"He was." She said. "Do you expect me to thank you?"

That had him looking up, "No, at least not with words. Shut the door, I will tell you what I want in exchange."

Mac did just that and when she came back he told her to take a seat.

"I prefer to stand." She said just to be contrary.

"Fine, either way works for me. I just figured you might wish to be more comfortable." He said before returning to where he was writing what looked like pages of notes.

Mac stubbornly refused to sit but she did walk over to the window and look out over the hospital parking lot. Hearing the sound of his pen being capped, she turned and looked at the papers he was handing her. "What's this?"

"Read it." He said.

"Is this about the program you want me to write?" She asked.

His eyes widened with pleasure and Mac felt a bit less worried until she looked down expecting to find some sort of description of a computer software program and instead found her worst nightmare.

Looking up, she said "What the hell is this?"

"What you agreed to do in exchange for my help with your dad's liver." He said as he looked at her steadily. He saw she was wearing the same clothes as the day before and that her hair was a bit tousled and knew that she was going on no sleep which was perfect for what he had planned.

Mac's jaw tightened as she said "You have got to be insane if you think that I would agree to this."

"You already did, Mac." He replied. "This is just a more detailed outline to what you already agreed to. If you notice, I gave you a little time, it won't start until at a week from today."

"Why are you doing this, Dick?" Mac asked. "It won't change the past, nothing can."

"No, it won't change the past, I will never forgive you for what you did but it will help soothe the pain." He said then told her "No one and I mean no one out side this room is to know the truth. Not Veronica, not Logan, Not even your priest."

"I'm not Catholic." She said reading the files again, hoping this was a nightmare.

"This is how this is going to go. You are going to go back downstairs and be with your Mom. I will stop by later, we will take a small walk and when we return, you are going to say that we have been talking about your past."

"Which past?" She asked with a sneer on her face.

"The summer after our first year at Hearst. We can dress it up if you insist make it a little less tawdry. We stick as close to the truth as possible, say how we bonded out of worry about Logan, yeah, that should work. That we had a fling and you decided I wasn't smart enough for you."

"How about we stick to the truth? How about we say that I came to the penthouse and found you with Madison, Dick?" She snarled. "With Shelly there clearly waiting for her turn as you were stripping your ex girlfriend."

With a sneer he said "You were the one who told me you were too busy to see me."

"I told you I was busy because I was, not because I wanted to end things with us." She pointed out. "When I saw the drugs and the liquor not mention two of our former classmates half naked in your hotel suite, I was glad I hadn't told you what was really going on."

"We were partying. You were invited to join us, it's not my fault you didn't want to join us." He replied his anger reminding him that he had already known what was going on, it was what had led him to the downward spiral he had been on and now, he was going to make her pay for taking his only chance at a family away from him.

"You threw Beaver up in my face in front of those two bitches." She snapped.

"You deserved it, after what you did." He hissed as his heart reminded him that she had put him through hell and then torn his heart out and stomped on it.

Mac began to speak but he held up his hand and said with a cold grin "It's done with. We are moving forward and speaking of moving forward, you might want to think where you want to get married."

"Married? To you?" She asked laughing harshly as she looked at him. "Are you crazy?"

"Nope, in a week we are going to announce that we have been spending time together, that Logan and Veronica's reunion and what is happening with your dad made us regret losing each other. We announce our engagement and we then will announce our plans to get married. You might want to think of a date for that while you are at it."

"How about the twelfth." She said flippantly.

"The 12th of June?" He asked pulling out a pen to write the date down.

"No, more like the twelfth of never." She harshly replied then went to leave but before she could, he held her arm and didn't let her go. "Dick, all it would take is one conversation with Veronica."

"All it would take is one call to your dad's insurance company..." He threatened.

Mac's shoulders slumped and Dick knew he had won. Pressing a kiss to her nape, watching her shudder, he said "And Mac this won't be a marriage in name only."

When she burst into tears, he said "Get over it,"

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Mac was downstairs with her mom, her mind reeling from the words she had read on Dick's rather descriptive list. She didn't know if she could do it, could obey what he wanted, but at the same time, she couldn't imagine what would happen to her dad if she didn't.

"Mac?" Hearing Veronica's voice, she looked up to see Wallace and her standing there waiting for her. "How is your dad?"

"They have him in post op, Now we just have to wait and see if his body rejects it." She said wanly. "I sent Ryan to get his school work and Mom is going home to get some sleep."

"Do you have time to eat something?" She asked showing Mac the take out bag. "It's a salad with a soy milkshake.

Looking at Wallace, she asked "Would you stay with my mom and call me if anything changes?"

"Sure." He promised then reaching out to hug her, sent her on her way.

Veronica and she went to the small courtyard outside and she tried to eat the salad but found the rest of her problems were still following her as the PI said. "I uh, did some checking Mac. Dick of all people did some arm twisting to get your dad his transplant. I overheard one of the nurses talking and she said that the committee was worried about aftercare in regards to your dad but that someone put huge pressure on them."

Mac smiled thinly at the news and said "I will have to thank him when my dad is doing better."

"I have to admit I was surprised." Veronica said. "Though, I did have an odd encounter with him this morning."

"Not to change the subject but did you find out any more about the man who got the first liver?" Mac asked.

"Nothing you don't already know. I have his financial statements and his background check for you when you are up to reading it." Mac thanked Veronica then looking at the half eaten salad admitted that she couldn't eat any more.

"Let's head back up." Veronica said as they returned to the floor that had been home for her family for almost three weeks. Shocked to see Dick there with Wallace, she was about to ask if he had a message from Logan for her when she saw his eyes on Mac.

Looking at Wallace whom Dick had been talking to, she saw his own astonishment when Dick walked over and suggested that Mac get some sleep. "I had a nurse put a cot in your dad's room."

"I will be fine." She said trying not to shake his arm off of hers knowing that this was part of his plan.

"You haven't had any sleep in days, Mac. Just rest, I will sit with your dad." Now both Veronica and Wallace were in shock as they saw Dick rubbing Mac's back and trying to persuade her to sleep. When she gave in, Veronica was about to say she would stay but Wallace grabbed her arm and said they would stop back later.

In the parking lot, Veronica looked at him and said "What on earth was that?"

"The fucking twilight zone, though..." Wallace's voice trailed off, then looking at Veronica said "That summer when you were at the FBI internship, I had to come back early, remember?"

"Yes." She said not getting the significance of it.

"I uh, saw Dick with who at first I thought I was Mac a few times but then we would all be at the beach and it was like she hated him. It was when she was fighting with Max. I think that is when she found out about his plans with Wendy."

"What are you trying to say, Wallace?" She asked. "That there was something going on between Dick and Mac?"

"You weren't here, you didn't see how different Dick was that summer. I mean, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, pod people different. He seemed well almost happy then a week before school was to start, he was found naked on the roof of the Grand drunk and stoned. I had forgotten how aberrant his behavior was compared to normal Dick behavior. It was just...like he found his reason to grow up."

"You think Mac and he were involved and that they ended, don't you?" Veronica said.

"Don't forget I saw another 09er go from an ass to prince charming for the right girl, Vee." He said shaking his head as they walked to her SUV. When she went to drive away, Wallace couldn't help recalling how much he had liked that version of Dick.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Veronica sent Logan an e-mail to ask him what he remembered of that summer and then went to see her dad. "Do you remember any stories about finding Dick on the roof of the Grand naked and drunk during the summer I was working at the FBI?"

Keith tried to recall then said "Yes, just before school started again. He was not only drunk but stoned they had to pump his stomach. My guy at the Grand said that when they found him he was curled up in the fetal position and that Logan had to talk him into going to the hospital with the medics. He wasn't naked either. He had on a pair of boxer shorts and was carrying a solitaire diamond ring. The only reason I know about it is that we found the ring when writing up the report. Sent a photo to double check on its ownership. It should be in a file marked Neptune Grand at the office."

"A ring?" Veronica asked a bit startled. "Thanks dad."

"What is Mr. Casablancas up to now?" He asked.

"That is just it, I don't think it is anything bad, which is what the problem is." She murmured then hugging him went to the office. In the filing system, sure enough she found the photo of the ring and what was the guard had written on the back. "One diamond solitaire ring from Aspreys in platinum setting with engraving on the inside."

Sitting down in her dad's chair, her eyes glued to the photo, she typed into Yahoo Aspreys engagement ring and soon saw one that matched the photo of the ring in her hands. Seeing how they listed prices for almost everything else but had price on request for that particular ring and Veronica lifted the photo yet again, shocked at the idea Dick would think to get this for Mac of all people.

Mac wasn't the diamond ring sort, at least as far as Veronica knew. Wondering what the writing said, she found the magnifying glass, she sure was about to find that her supposition was wrong, she dropped the glass and felt her jaw dropping. "No, he had to know another Cindy."

Her mind whirling, she lifted the handle and the photo and looked through the glass again and it still showed the same thing. "What on earth was going on between the two of them?"

Standing, putting the photo back, she went to her computer and wrote Logan another e-mail only to see that he had answered her previous one.

_"Between Dick and Mac? I don't think anything was going on, but Wallace was right, he was acting strange that summer. I mean, until his meltdown, I didn't see him with a single girl at all yet he was constantly very up, almost giddy."_ He wrote.

Then a few inches later, he added _"I don't know how else to describe it, Veronica. At best, maybe to say that he was acting like he had won sex quest and had found out he was...he was...I don't know, I do know that about two weeks before school started, he left to go surfing on a Thursday and came back asking me some rather odd questions like how I knew that I loved you and why was I so certain that we would eventually find happiness. A week after that, I was called to the roof of the Grand to get him to let go of the sign and that was the beginning of a repeat of freshman year Dick."_

Seeing how he signed his e-mail, Love Logan, she smiled softly and traced the words with her fingers then closed down his computer and drove over to the hospital, hoping to talk to Mac if she was more up to it.

Instead she backed out of the room, stunned to hear Dick talking to Mac's dad about camping and water sports and that Mac was laying on the cot asleep. Her eyes went to what had caught her attention in the first place, Dick's hand resting on Mac's arm, his thumb drawing designs on her skin.

That night, she tried to wrap her mind around it and found that the more she thought about it, the more sense they made. Both were the two people most devastated by what Beaver did, both were the sort to let you see what they wanted you to see but that often underneath there were things going on that you had no idea about.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac woke up to her mom speaking softly to her dad and she was about to tell them she was awake when she heard her dad mentioning Dick to her mom. Tensing up a bit Mac felt a sense of trepidation as she heard him talking about how that nice young man had sat there with him all night talking. How they had discussed camping and fishing and sailing.

Hearing her dad falling for Dick's easy charm had her gnashing her teeth but she could do nothing about it, not if she wanted to keep her dad healthy.

Yawning overly wide, she sat up stretching and looking at the clock. "Oh, I have to go."

Hugging her dad, telling him she would be by later, Mac went home and showered then went to work. Seated at her desk, working on code, bored out of her mind, she tried to figure out how to get out of her promise to Dick.

At lunch time, she had mindlessly finished her part in her latest project and went to check on her dad only to hear him being given the good news that it looked like he was going to be fine.

Backing out to let her dad talk to his doctor, Mac couldn't help thinking that maybe, just maybe she should wait for a few weeks. Maybe Dick will realize how ridiculous this was.

Eating some fries on the way back to work, she was soon seated at her desk, working on yet even more mindless computer programming for more gadgets that she thought were supercilious.

At the end of her day, she grabbed her keys and her jacket and was on her way out of her office when she saw Celeste Kane entering the building. Restraining from telling the woman what she thought about her, she was soon in her car, her hands shaking with rage.

Driving to the hospital, she saw that Dick was back. Grinding her teeth together, she greeted him as neutrally as possible, she was soon led off to a far corner. "I have fulfilled my part in our deal. You need to start fulfilling yours."

"What do you want me to do, Dick?" She asked a bit snippily.

"Spend the night at my place." When he saw her revulsion, he changed his plans from making it look like he was trying to take care of her to Veronica and said "I think you know why."

Mac felt sick to her stomach but then said "Isn't there any thing else?"

"No." He said and when she went to spend time with her dad, Dick looked down at the e-mail he had gotten from Logan and went to play his part in this farce, thinking that maybe he should have gone into acting because apparently Veronica Mars was buying his award winning performance.

Arriving at the beach house, he waited until after Veronica had done her Skype conversation with Logan and then when she asked about why he had been at the hospital, he shrugged and said "It was nothing."

When she tried to push like he knew she would, he said "Veronica, you might have a right to know every single thing about Logan's life but you don't about mine. Let it go. You have no idea, none what really is going on."

When she had left, he made a call to Tripp. "I looked at the houses. None are what I am looking for. I want beach but it doesn't have to be 09er beach."

At almost eight, he found Mac's name in his contacts and called her. When it rang then went to voice mail after two rings, he knew she had hit ignore, so he called again, then again and finally he called the hospital.

Being told that Mr. Mackenzie was sleeping, he asked about his daughter and was told that Ms. Mackenzie had left the hospital about six. Grabbing his keys and going to the garage, he drove the Mercedes over to her place and tossing the keys to the man out front walked inside.

The security guard waved him on through and Dick just smirked as he took the elevator to Mac's floor. Knocking on the door, he waited a bit impatiently for her to answer.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac was curious as to whether it was Veronica or Wallace when she walked to answer her door, no one else could get up there, it's why she had come home and ignored Dick's order.

Opening the door, she asked "Why didn't you hit the buzzer downstairs?"

"I didn't know it was an option." Dick said as he moved around her and into the apartment. Looking around, seeing the minimalist decor but with nice pieces of artwork, he said "Not at all what I was expecting."

"What are you doing here, Dick?" She asked shaking her head as she went to sit on the sofa.

Taking in the soft silky pants and the thin T-shirt, Dick said "We had a meeting tonight."

"Really? Sorry, I forgot." She said insincerely. "Was it anything important?"

"This is going to happen, Mac. Just resign yourself, lie back and think of England, isn't that how it goes?" He said with a cool expression on his face. "You can do that or you can enjoy yourself like you used to."

"Sorry, that won't be happening. Not after seeing you with Shelly and Madison." She said with a grimace. "Dick, what is this really about?"

"Quid pro quo baby." He said and Mac glared at him. "You owe me."

"I think you are confusing me with someone else, Dick. I am not a whore. I thought you said that this wasn't immoral in the eyes of the church?"

Backed off by his own comment, he said "Now or next week after we are married, it doesn't change anything, Mac. You and I will still be having sex."

Almost gagging as Dick sat down and lay back against her sofa, thrusting his hips into the air, Mac said "Seven days of complete freedom, Dick. I think that I can wait."

"Six days." He said then told her "I am staying. Hopefully when Mother Hen Veronica finds out my car was in your parking garage all night, she will get the hint and we won't have to put on a show for her. So how do you want to do this? Me staying here overnight or acting lovey dovey for your friend."

"Fine, but you are sleeping on the sofa." She said grudgingly.

"That won't work. Superspy Ronnie might just notice that." He said standing and removing his shirt. Hearing her grinding her teeth, he said "Good thing I have a good dentist, with the way you are damaging your teeth."

Mac ignored him and when he followed her into her bedroom, she pointed to the other side of the bed, the one closest to the wall and said "You on that side."

"So Mackie, how many men have graced this rather plain bed?" He asked looking around the room, curious about the tightness in his stomach at the idea of other men having been here.

"None." She said sharply. "This is or was my private inner sanctum. No one but Veronica, Wallace and my family are or were allowed here. I don't want you here but I don't have a choice do I?"

"You had one, you didn't make the right choice." He said spitting out the word choice like it was a bad thing as he kicked off his shoes and unzipped his pants. Dropping his boxers with his pants, he heard her mutter for him to leave those on, so he looked at her and said "Sorry, the boys like a little air at night."

"The boys need spayed and neutered." She tossed back and missed seeing his eyes ice up. When she saw he was still standing, she said "You won't be getting any kind of special invitation, Dick. So either go to bed or get the hell out of my apartment."

Dick's movements were wooden as he went to the other side of Mac's bed and climbed under the covers, reminding himself that in a week she would begin to pay for what she had cost him, until then, he would have to let her comment go.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Veronica stood on the threshold of Mac's bedroom and stared in shock as she took in the view. Mac was asleep wearing her favorite silk pjs, which was normal enough, but Dick was asleep next to Mac.

She could see he didn't have a shirt on and from the pile of clothes next to the bed, she was sure he was naked, but that wasn't what had her attention, no what caught her attention was that Dick's arms were around Mac and his hands were enfolding hers as they lay on top of his chest, along with Mac's head.

Backing out, feeling like she had entered some bizarre world over the last few days, she sat down on the sofa, opened the white bag from the bakery and began to eat the cinnamon chip muffin she had gotten for herself as she awaited her best girlfriend.

Hearing movement about twenty minutes later, the sounds were more along the lines of what she was used to as Mac gave Dick hell for his morning erection.

The insults being thrown around in the bedroom had her very sure that it wasn't what she thought it was until Dick walked into the living room and stopped dead when he saw her.

"Veronica, didn't they teach you in law school that breaking and entering is a crime." He said as he reached for his shirt which was on the back of the sofa. Putting it on, he saw the bakery bag and said "Patrick's on Fourth Street."

"Yes, and the soy pumpkin muffin inside is Mac's." She said with a glare as he snaked the bag and sniffed at it. "What?"

Wrinkling his nose, he called out. "Nancy Drew is here, ready and waiting for you."

"Go away Dick, I am so not talking to you." Mac said as she walked into the room and glared at the tall blond. "In fact, go so far away that I forget your name."

"I am too memorable for that." He said walking over and dropping a kiss on her lips then looking at Veronica, thanked her for the muffin and walked out the front door to the sound of Mac screaming in anger.

Veronica looked at Mac then at the now closed door and said "Anything you want to tell me?"

"Nothing to tell except that I have lost my fricken mind. I won't go there again. I refuse to." She muttered. Seeing Veronica looking at her, she noticed the softness in her eyes and knew she had to get her to see that this wasn't a romantic comedy like she seemed to think. "I won't do it, Veronica. You don't know what happened."

"I know that something happened eight years ago."

"Nine." Mac said soberly then needing to tell someone, needing to be honest about things after years of keeping it to herself, she looked at her clock and said "Meet me at Dog Beach at four thirty."

Veronica showed up at the beach a few minutes early, after a run in with Dan Lamb that had her wanting to rip the heads of unicorns. When Mac showed up, she saw her friend seemed distant as she asked her to walk down the beach with her.

"Okay, when did Dick and you become Dick and you?" She asked.

"It all started when he apologized for being himself that last night we were all on the beach. He tried to kiss me and I shoved him away." Mac said with a frown. "Wallace and you were gone. Logan was distant. At the time I thought it was because he didn't want to be friends. Last night, I realized something, that must have been when he joined the ROTC."

"Timing sounds right." Veronica verified.

"Anyhow, I saw Max out one day when he had told me he had to go home and visit his mother who was sick. So I tailed him to this club. I couldn't go in, I wasn't dressed right but a few hours later, Dick exited the club."

"I am guessing either he was thrown out or had someone with him?" Veronica asked.

"Neither, he came outside because his car alarm kept going off." Mac said with a bit of a smirk. Looking at Veronica she admitted. "I was trying to set the alarm off on Max's car, but instead to kept triggering the Audi's alarm. I finally found the right code when he came out to turn his off. He saw me and we had words, then next thing I knew, I kissed him."

"What?" That was not what Veronica was expecting to hear.

"Yeah, I know stupid right." She said as she bit her lip. "Anyhow, one thing led to another and we ended up having sex two days later. Then again at the beach and again at the hotel until I think we had had sex in almost every private location except your house."

"Okay, but how does this lead to-to, well whatever it led to." Veronica asked lamely not mentioning the ring on the off chance she had been wrong about it's meaning.

"We were careful for the most part I was on the pill and he used condoms. Man he would bitch about them, complaining about having to clean up afterwards." Mac said then looking at Veronica continued. "We had a condom break but I wasn't worried, I was on the pill, except you know that it says it is only 99 percent effective."

"You were pregnant?" Veronica asked now totally shocked.

"Yeah." She said. "I had what they call an Etopic pregnancy. I didn't know until I cramped up so badly one day that I had to go to the hospital. I called Dick and canceled on our I don't know what to call it, but whatever it was. He seemed fine with it and at the time, I didn't know what was wrong with me."

"Oh Mac." Veronica could tell that whatever happened had deeply affected her friend. "What did Dick say?"

"I never told him." Mac admitted. She saw the look on Veronica's face and gave her the rest of the story. "I was admitted into the hospital and the doctor tried this new procedure. Everything was fine but around midnight, I started cramping and ended up miscarrying."

"You should have called me." Veronica said softly.

"It's funny, when they let me go from the hospital, I was going to tell Dick even though we had both sworn that it was only going to be a summer fling, I had begun to care for him. To like the vulnerable guy I saw under the bravado."

Mac looked at Veronica and said "That turned to hate when I arrived at the penthouse. Dick was having a party, there were tons of people there and I saw all sorts of eyes on me as I went to the balcony where I was told he was. I walked out and saw him standing there pulling Madison's shirt off of the very lounge chair we had slept on a few days earlier, Shel-Shelly was talking about needing a condom and they were all high as a kite, Veronica. Dick looked up and I don't even remember what he said, I just stood there stunned at what I was seeing, I went home, took my pain pill and went to bed, wanting to die."

Veronica hugged Mac as tightly as she could, feeling sad for her friend, rage at Dick and guilt about her own actions wondering if they had led to this painful moment for Mac.

She had sent Madison a note about being switched at birth, wanting to cause her pain. If she got the dates right, that was right about when Mac was talking about. "Did you ask him why?"

Mac looked at her, the pain in her blue eyes convincing Veronica she shouldn't have asked. "I did. I went back the next morning and he laughed and said that it wasn't like we were exclusive. He mentioned Cassidy and then Shelly came out of his bedroom, asking if that was room service, that she was hungry. She had a bite mark on her neck, Veronica. She looked at me and laughed then said to Dick that he shouldn't have screwed around with me, didn't he learn his lesson about poor white trash with that girl who died on the bus."

"I left and haven't talked to Dick about it since. We have avoided each other all this time until the reunion." Mac said then added "When Logan and you got together, I knew it would mean seeing him every once and while, but this, what is going on now, it's too painful to let happen. I can't. Every single year on August 19th, the day my baby died, I wake up, go someplace where I can be alone. I needed him, I needed Dick and he wasn't there, instead he was too busy having sex with the girl who has my life."

With that, Mac reached for her car keys and then looking at Veronica said "Don't tell him, please, whatever you do, god, Veronica, Just don't tell him or even Logan. I couldn't face him if he knew."

"Why, he is the one who..." Veronica saw Mac's fear and went silent. "I promise, Mac."

"Thank you, I just hate how pathetic I was, now foolish I was to believe that he cared about me." She said. "I have got to go to the hospital."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick went to look at the houses Tripp had for him to see that day, found one that fit his requirements and paid cash for it. "Logan is going to be staying at my place until the end of the year, at that time, you can list it."

"Are you sure, its prime real estate, Dick?" Tripp asked. "I mean the place you got today is great but it isn't in the 09er zip code."

"That's fine." Dick said then went home and grabbed his surf board, needing to do something to quell the restlessness he was feeling, that he had been feeling since that morning.

He saw Veronica and Mac pulling off the far parking lot as he pulled onto the one closest to the beach and considered calling Mac, maybe that was what was bothering him, how unsettled he felt by how much was still not done in his plan.

Surfing until it was too dark to surf any longer, he drove home and went to shower, determined to go see Mac but when he heard Veronica slamming her way into the house, he went to ask "What is your problem?"

"Men who cheat are my problem, Dick. Assholes who play around with innocent women's lives and ruin them are my problem. Do you want to be my problem?" She snapped.

"Okay, maybe you shouldn't call Logan in that mood." He said grabbing the nearest set of car keys and heading out not wanting to deal with a PMSing Veronica Mars.

"Logan isn't my problem." She called out. "He isn't an asshole like you."

Okay, what did Mac tell Veronica he thought to himself and then it hit him that she more than likely made their breakup all his fault. Was it a breakup when you refused to admit you were dating someone, he thought to himself.

Heading across town, he saw Mac's brother exiting Java and walking across the street towards the bus stop. "Hey, Ryan do you need a lift?"

Looking at the blond man behind the wheel of the truck with the surf boards, he realized it was the guy that had Cindy's panties all in a twist. Hesitating, he heard him saying that he was on his way to the hospital to drag Mac home, so he got in the passenger seat.

"We haven't actually talked since Mac and you hung out in college." He said. "I'm Ryan, you're Dick right. Cassidy's brother."

Nodding, Dick looked at him and was astounded once again at how different he was to Mac in looks. "Put your seat belt on."

Driving to Neptune General, he saw that Mr. Mackenzie was alone and asked about Mac. "I suggested she go home and get some sleep."

"I will check on her later. Ryan, I am heading to the cafeteria, if you want a ride come get me." Dick said and went to call Mac. Getting her voice mail, he warned her he was coming over and quickly got a call back.

"Don't. I am not in the mood, Dick." She said and he could hear the sound of tears in her voice and was curious as to what was going on.

"Fine, but you have an appointment for a complete physical tomorrow." He told her the time and the date. "It's on your list."

"I know. I had a full check up a few months ago, why can't I just have my doctor send it to you?" She asked.

"Tomorrow, at five, Mac. Be there." He said then hanging up, went to the cafeteria and got a coffee. When Ryan showed up twenty minutes later, he drove the blond home and casually talked to him about school and where he was going to college.

"It might be Hearst but Mac wants me elsewhere. My dad wants USC, but I lost out on first team football so that is out. Mom wants me at San Diego State but Mac doesn't like the team scout. She said he used to sell steroids in high school and doesn't want me around him, in spite of how much I hate that crap."

"Go where you want to go, Ryan." He said and when the blond had gone inside, Dick started to drive towards his place but said "The hell with it."

Driving to Mac's, he knocked on the door until she let him in. "My neighbors are going to complain."

"Screw them." He said as he entered her place. Dropping his shirt on her sofa, he left a trail of clothes to her bedroom.

"You aren't staying Dick." She said then finding him already in bed, she swore and said "You are such an asshole."

__

LoVe&MaDi

Mac was glaring at Dick as they walked into the doctor's office. "Why are we doing this?"

"Complete physical, remember?" He said then leaning back told her "I am getting one as well, so relax, Mac."

"Good, make sure that they check you for sexually transmitted diseases." She hissed. "Only the devil knows where you have been. I'm sure he knows more than you, the way you regularly get drugged and drunk out of your mind."

Wincing because she was right about the partying, if not the end result, Dick wanted to snap at her but before he could, they were escorted to the exam rooms. Three very exhausting hours later, Dick grimaced as he went to get dressed.

"Ms. Mackenzie, is she still in with the doctor?" He asked the nurse.

"I can't release that information." She primly replied.

"Actually, you can. Ms. Mackenzie signed a medical release form so that I may be informed of everything." Dick said.

With her lips pressed together in a thin line, the woman said "She is finishing up with Dr. Thomas right now."

Mac exited the main office, glared at Dick and said "I hate going to a gynecologist when it is someone other than my usual doctor. Why couldn't you just read those reports?"

"I want someone I can trust not to lie to me." He coldly replied.

"I am out of here. Don't show up tonight, Veronica is sleeping over." She snapped.

"It is going to be mighty crowded then because I will be there around eight." He replied.

When Mac had left, he walked into Dr. Thomas office, sat down and asked "Well is Mac healthy? Will she carry to term if she gets pregnant?"

"Ms. Mackenzie is a normal healthy fertile young woman. There were no last effects from the trauma of what happened nine years ago. I would recommend that when you two are trying you be sure to follow her body's guidelines so as to prevent any future medical issues."

Seeing his confusion, the doctor told Dick, "Basically what I am saying is that you should avoid fertility drugs if you can. Now she is currently taking birth control pills, I will suggest that she go off them at least four weeks before you start trying for a baby."

Dick didn't say a word, he had fixed that problem his very first night at Mac's. He had checked to see what her pills looked like and then last night had changed them out for placebos.

He didn't feel the least bit guilty after all Mac hadn't felt any guilt about killing his child, she had even had the nerve to act like it had never happened.

Dick knew that if it had been any other woman, he wouldn't have given a crap but that it had been Mac, Mac who if it had been Beaver's baby, she would have kept it had gotten rid of their child.

This time the baby would be created on purpose and this time, well this time he would be the one in control. He was going to make it very clear, she either agreed to stay with him until their child was at least eighteen or she would lose custody of said child.

Leaving the doctor's office, he thought about his own mother who had made the choice to leave and his expression turned icy as he vowed that his own child, would have both parents in his or her life. No matter what it took to ensure it.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: I don't have any medical knowledge, so the procedure I described might or might not exist. Some of you are concerned about the tone and possible sexual interaction bordering on sexual assult. Don't be. I would NEVER go there. It's one of the few issues that I have had with the show, the amount of stories that were about rape. Also if you have read my other stories for VM, you know I take exception to what happened with Duncan and Veronica being considered anything but rape. 

Chapter Three

Mac listened to what Dick had to say and scoffed as she rejected his plan. A day earlier and she might have agreed just because she hated her job, but the visit to the doctor had brought back the past for her and she was angry enough to refuse to do as he requested.

At least until she found out the Kanes had visited the man who got the original liver. Hearing them joking with the man who had manipulated the system had her determined to ruin all three.

Quitting, she grimaced when Dick showed up at her place that evening, handed her a bank debit card, some credit cards and a check book. "I don't want your money."

"We have a deal. In fact, tomorrow, I want you to start telling Veronica that you regret our past." He said. "That your mistakes were even bigger than my own."

"I can't lie to her, besides Veronica knows me well enough to know that that isn't true." She snapped as she glared at Dick.

He moved closer until she could see the pores on his skin then said "Oh, I doubt she knows everything."

"She certainly knows about your little romp with Shelly and Madison." Mac replied with a serene smile as she walked to her bedroom, ignoring him and got ready for bed, acting like she was completely alone in the room.

Soon undressed, Dick leaned over Mac and hissed "Trust me, when I am done, Veronica will be on my side."

"Doubt it, she hates you, Richard. Even before I told her what you did. Now, my guess is that she would cheerfully run you over with Logan's car and then back up and do it again." Mac hissed at him.

Reaching for her wrist, he said "Go, see your dad, tomorrow, Mac. You and I both know that all of this anger, this resentment is something you caused with your 'choices', not me. So tell yourself all you want that all of this is my fault but we both know the truth."

When she stiffened and glared at him, he said "You kept trying to spike my plans and I guess I will just have to do this a different way. You should have gone along with my plans, you would have had more time. Instead I think we should move the marriage back up like was planned. Maybe next week."

On her back, staring up at the ceiling, listening to Dick breathe, Mac was considering smothering him with his pillow. She hated Dick with a passion but at the same time, she had to admitted that the two lovers before and the few afterwards had not lived up to how good sex with him had been. Too bad he had the morals of an alley cat in heat.

__

LoVe&MaDi

Dick signed the paperwork, wrote out the check and then offered to buy Tripp a beer. "So rumor is you are getting married." Tripp said.

"What rumors?" Dick asked frowning as he tried to figure out who had let out information he wasn't ready to share yet."

"Alex down at Radiant Jewelers mentioned you had a wedding ring resized." Tripp said. "I didn't think it made any sense, but hey, if you are, let me know, will you? I think there is still an active pot regarding you getting married at the Pi Sigma house."

Draining his beer, Dick stood and said "Sure."

Leaving, not giving a damn if Tripp believed him or not, Dick went to the hospital to see what Mac was doing. Finding her talking to her parents, he heard her brother on his cell phone a bit further down the hall and grimaced as he realized that Neptune High history was repeating itself.

People wondered why their football teams usually sucked, well in truth it was because their coach was all about promoting 09er boys to the first team that didn't even belong on the bench.

Case in point the boys starting that year. Dick was thinking about straightening things out, but reminded himself that he wasn't in this to make friends, no, he had to concentrate on his plan.

Seeing Veronica talking to Wallace and her dad, he drew her off and said "I need to speak to Logan the next time the two of you SKYPE."

"It won't be for a week or so." She warned. "What are you up to, Dick?"

"Six foot last time I checked, but I guess for a shortie like you..." Veronica laughed in spite of herself when she saw him grinning at her.

"Dick, stop." She said then looking at him asked "You do get that realizing you made mistakes in the past isn't all that is necessary to fix things don't you?"

When he didn't answer she sighed then said "It pains me to say this, but I am not exactly against this Dick. I am not sure I like it, but I can't say it is the worst idea ever. Still the mess with Madison and Shelly, I don't know what you were thinking."

When he didn't answer, she said "Dick, the screw up is worse than you know. Mac has a secret, a big one regarding her past that your mistake with Madison, added to your history; it might be too big to overcome."

Rolling his eyes at how much of a drama queen Veronica was, he looked at her and knew she had seen it. "Ronnie, we aren't Logan and you."

"No, you aren't." She replied. "Dick, god, I am almost feel sorry for you."

Dick tensed up, thinking she was talking about Mac's abortion and found it hard not to rail at what Mac had done. Instead he said "Don't, because I always win eventually."

"No, no you don't." She said quietly. Looking down the hall to where she saw Abraham Masters being wheeled out of the hospital to go home, she said "I have to go, Dick."

"Fine, go." He said.

"Dick." Veronica looked at him and tried again to tell him how big of a hole he had dug himself. "Mac doesn't forget, she might forgive you for the past, but she won't forget it. You can concentrate all you want on the future, but you really need to face your past."

With that she followed the wealthy older man to his limo and hopped in after him, deftly evading his driver. "If you don't want me to go to the press tomorrow morning about how the wealthy and generous philanthropist Abraham Masters manipulated the transplant list to get a liver that he didn't deserve, you had better answer my questions."

"Mr. Masters?" The driver looked at his boss who just nodded then looked at the blond girl now seated across from him.

"It's fine, Reginald." He said then looking at Veronica asked "May I ask what your name is?"

"Veronica Mars." She answered.

"Ah, you don't look like a young woman with such a notorious reputation for stirring pots." He said then looking at her said "I knew that there was a second liver available, Ms. Mars. I wasn't heartless."

"Yet you talked his insurance company into denying him coverage. They weren't going to pay for the transplant. Whatever you gave them was going to be reason enough to deny him the liver." She retorted. "I wouldn't exactly vote for you as being good citizen of the week."

"I had nothing to do with that, Ms. Mars." He said looking at her and getting that she had been around the hospital a lot for the last week. "I understood that the patient got the liver and was doing well."

"No thanks to your friends the Kanes and the Sinclairs, Mr. Masters." She replied. "Luckily for Mr. Mackenzie, his daughter has friends that made sure he was taken care of."

"Celeste is a bit misguided perhaps but she was afraid of losing one of her friends, nothing more sinister than that, I assure you." He replied trying to placate her.

"Celeste Kane is a blood sucking leech who shot an innocent man and had the police cover it up. Just like she did with her daughter's death, then blamed my dad when he realized something was wrong and thought they had killed her." Veronica snarled.

"Celeste has regretted the mistakes of the past."

"Yet she keeps making all new ones." Veronica mocked. "Look, I am not here to debate this with you, I just want to know what the involvement of the Sinclair family was."

"Why would I tell you? Better yet, why would you believe a word I say if I am as bad as you claim?" He asked.

"I won't but it will be a starting point to finding out the truth." She answered looking at him. She saw his half smile and wanted to demand answers but she had already let her emotions get the best of her.

"Simply put, Matt helped me switch my residency, nothing more. It was his daughter who..."

Veronica interrupted and said "Madison?"

"Yes." He answered then continued "She took care of most of the details for him. Matt just made sure that the legal side of the paperwork was handled while Madison did everything else."

"Did she know who the man was that was losing the liver?" She asked.

"Of course, she worked with my doctors to get me transported down here." He replied. "Madison is my goddaughter, her grandmother was one of my closest friends. It's why Matt helped."

Veronica was mentally throttling that cold bitch who had to have known that her biological father had been shoved aside. Looking at the man she asked "You don't have any family, do you?"

"No. No wife or kids." He responded. "My oldest friend was Moira Sinclair-Thebes. She along with her first husband, Daniel were my partners in my business before we sold out to Del Monte."

"Madison probably expects to inherit something from you as a thanks for the help." She muttered.

"She was already in my will." He confirmed. Seeing her shaking her head, he said "If she was greedy like you seem to be insinuating Ms. Mars, wouldn't she have let me die?"

"Depends, on how you wrote your will. Do you remember what you wrote?" She asked.

"Not that it is any of your business but I simply wrote it to the biological grandchildren of Moira Sinclair, she remarried and I wasn't friendly with her second husband or her stepchildren. I am one who believes in biology outing out over this new fad of touchy feely nonsense."

"Does Madison know this?" Veronica asked.

"Of course." He said mildly. "So you see, she didn't benefit from this any more now."

"Oh my guess is that she will ask you to be more specific and name her in your will." She said.

"I don't see why that would be any of your business." He replied. "Now I have been quite generous with my time, Ms. Mars. Would you please get out of my vehicle?"

"Gladly." She replied then had another question. "Sir, how do you feel about adopted children?"

"Concerning what?" He asked. "Because if you want to be adopted, as interesting as I find you, I think that your inquisitiveness would get you smothered within a week."

Veronica saw his slight smile and shaking her head liking him in spite of his comment, said "What if Madison had been adopted?"

"She wouldn't be in my will." He said. "I know that Ellen gave birth to Madison, Ms. Mars. I remember when she was pregnant. I wrote my will then."

Veronica smiled widely at him and said "Sir, I suggest that you do a little research. I would suggest maybe doing a Google search for the Sinclair family and legal records involving this very hospital."

With that, she got out of the car, walked back into the hospital with a spring in her step as she chuckled almost certain that Madison was in for a shock.

She had no issues with adoption, she even knew that Mac was more Mackenzie than Sinclair, but she was almost positive that the man who had just left here wouldn't look at it that way.

__

LoVe&MAaDi

Mac grit her teeth as she let Dick drive her to a restaurant.

"I think we should call Dr. Jackson, have him look at your teeth." He said as they pulled into a nearby Mexican place.

She just ignored him and went inside. When the waitress asked what she wanted; Mac quickly replied "A strawberry daiquiri and it you keep the glass from getting empty, I promise a fifty dollar tip is in it for you."

"We also need some time to read the menu." Dick assured the girl and then ordered a beer. By the time his beer was half gone she was on her second daiquiri. "You are going to get brain freeze."

"I couldn't get that lucky." She replied then ordered her food. Not saying another word, ignoring his running commentary on everything from the decor to the weather; Mac finally snapped when he mentioned Veronica and Logan.

"I swear, if you don't want them to find your dead body buried under the pier at low tide tomorrow, shut the fuck up." She hissed waving her now empty glass at the waitress who was already on her way over with another drink. "Thank you."

Dick sat back when the waitress brought their food, letting Mac drink as much as she wanted, deciding that he was going to get what he wanted one way or another.

Two hours later, he carried her into her apartment, stripped her naked, throwing her clothes all around the room and then did the same with his.

Crawling into bed, smirking as she curled up around him, he waited until she was solidly asleep to begin his plan.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac woke up the next morning, her head pounding as she tried to recall what had gone on. Hearing the shower running, she  
opened her eyes and saw the blue Gatorade and some aspirin.

Choking it down, she felt her head spinning at the same time as she realized that she was naked. That nothing ached and she didn't feel like she had had sex, but she was naked and she was well aware that she had been dreaming of her past with Dick from before that night. Had she done something stupid, fallen asleep in bed with Dick and forgotten what he had done. Swearing when she saw the condom on the nightstand, she vowed to make him pay as Dick walked into the room naked.

"Hey babe." He said with a wink as he attempted to kiss her.

"Get dressed and get the hell out of my place." She snapped horried to realize she had to have stupid the night before. Why had she gotten so drunk the night before, hadn't she learned her lesson regarding Dick. She hated herself, she knew better, he might pretend to be different than the man who had done what he had by leaving Cassidy and Veronica in that bedroom. Sh knew better because that is the exact sort of man he had been that night on the balcony when he had invited her into that pathetic game he had going with Shelly and Madison.

"No can do." He replied then sat down and leaned over to kiss her. When she wretched her head away, he smirked and said "That wasn't what you were saying or doing last night."

"I was drunk." She pointed out, her tone pure ice.

"Hey, I tried to put you to bed, you were the one trying to seduce me. I have to say, your skill has certainly improved in that department, Macster." He replied with a leer and a wink. "The way you were begging me for it, it must have been a while, huh, Mac?"

She didn't say a word but if looks could kill, Dick would be dead. "Yup, you were grabbing at me, attempting to kiss me, but I was a complete gentleman."

Sick to her stomach from more than the lingering alcohol, Mac said "I don't believe a word you are saying."

"Really, how about this, Macster. Interesting scar you have there on your inner thigh." He said with chuckle. "I saw it when I was trying to hold you off, but since you are now sober, I was thinking we could finish what you attempted to start since it clearly has been awhile. Besides, I want a closer look at that scar, maybe kiss the pain away."

Mac who knew exactly what the scar was, slapped him across the face, her hangover gone as the pain of her miscarriage came back anew. She had gotten that scar when she had left the penthouse after seeing him with the two skanks the next morning, she had been at the beach, trying to stop the pain when she had tripped over a piece of broken wood from the pier and had needed stitches. "Get the fuck out, Dick. Just go or I swear to god, I will kill you. I can't believe I let you touch me, after what you did to me. I did have to be drunk and out of my mind for it to happen, didn't I?"

Dick touched the side of his face, the sting of her slap still vibrating through his body. "A bit touchy this morning, aren't we babe."

Mac was still naked as she walked past him to the kitchen, grabbed the knife and held it up so that he could see it. "No, I am not your babe, I am the blackmail victim. Now get out of my apartment, Richard. I swear to god, I am not kidding and I will kill you."

Dick didn't know what the hell was going on with Mac, she looked seriously pissed which made no sense, but he grabbed his cell phone and his keys then reminded her of her dad.

"Oh, I know. I know that you own my time. Just if you know what is good for you, get the hell away from me, Dick." She said her voice now close to breaking as she felt a panic attack coming on.

Once he was gone, she dropped the knife on the counter, fell to her knees and threw up in her trash can, sick at the idea she had had tried to have sex with the man who had hurt her so badly, with the man who hadn't given a damn about anything more than his own pleasure.

_LoVe&MaDi  
_

Veronica verified that Abraham Masters was who he said he was to the Sinclair family and went to work on her lingering case regarding Dan Lamb.

Her dad was doing light work at the office now, but she nor he had forgotten what had led to his injuries or the death of Jerry Sacks. "Dad, have you ever run across this Masters' guy?"

"No, other than his connection to Celeste Kane, why? Do you think he is lying?" Keith asked.

"No, and that is the problem." Veronica replied with a sigh as she looked at her dad. "Either way, I am at a stand still. I have the video footage of the shooting but it doesn't show the angle I need. You see the gun being dropped but not who dropped it."

"Celeste other than visiting Mr. Masters and Jake's office has been playing least in sight." Keith stated. "I also know that they had a run in at the country club a few days ago during which Jake grabbed her arm and threatened her."

"Interesting." Veronica replied. "What do you think that is about?"

"Well, my contact said that he heard him warning her off from something and Celeste reminding him that she doesn't answer to him anymore." Keith replied. "Jake warned her that the last time she tried whatever it was she did, it blew up spectacularly in her face."

"Could she be using Mr. Masters to hold Jake off from carrying out his threats?" Veronica asked.

"No, I think that Celeste's only interest in Abraham Masters is slightly more self serving." Keith replied then with a wince told her what he had been holding back. "Masters' is connected to the New Zealand PM Snowe, they went to college together. Rumor is she is trying to get access to Duncan."

"Duncan as in her son?" Veronica asked shocked by that news. "Wait, what about Lilly?"

"You might want to sit down." Keith said and when Veronica was seated, he looked at her and said "Duncan got married to a girl name Deborah, they have two children of their own as well as Lilly. He turned himself in to the Auckland police and has been serving jail time on the weekends for what they are calling unlawful entry. Because he is facing the charges there, he can't be retried here."

"If the Kanes know where Duncan is, why aren't they down there visiting him?" Veronica asked, her mind concentrating on the important part, she would deal with the fact her dad had known where Duncan was apparently for a while.

"Neither Kane is allowed in to the country. They can't get visas and she wants Masters' help to visit her son." Keith replied.

"So Jake is staying away and Celeste wants to be there?" She asked.

"Yes. Jake wants to see his son, but he has apparently as far as I can tell obeying the rules right now." He said. "Celeste even tried to get his wife to release custody of the kids to her. Tried to bribe her."

"Hopefully she told Celeste to take her check book and shove it where the sun don't shine." Veronica replied. Hearing her phone ringing, she saw that it was Mac and quickly said "Hello?"

"I need you. I am at home." She heard Mac's sob and looking at her dad told her she was on her way.

__

LoVe&MaDi

Veronica entered Mac's apartment and was stunned at what she saw. Mac was standing at the sink with a large knife in her hands. "Mac?"

Blue eyes full of tears stopped staring at the knife and looked at her. "I got drunk and according to Dick, tried to have sex with him."

Not sure what to say, Veronica moved closer and when she was within reach removed the knife from Mac's hand rather glad to see that it was clean and that she wasn't called to cover up a murder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, if I had wanted to talk about it, I would have with the bastard who just left. I had been doing so good, Nine years, Veronica. Nine years of complete silence, no visits, no being forced to spend time with him. It was good, great in fact because I could pretend that it didn't happen. That I hadn't fallen in love with that jackass." She said in a hard tone.

"Have you ever considered that maybe what you need to do is talk to him about that night. I think that it might help the two of you. Logan and I, we have been talking things out, discussing the past." Veronica suggested.

Looking at Veronica as she spoke, Mac grew angery and said "You know, this is all your fault. If you hadn't come home, Logan would have still been ignoring my existence and I would have never crossed paths with Dick in anything more than a casual way. I was happy with that, I could pretend that it didn't happen other than one day a year."

Veronica could see how close to the edge Mac was so she just reached over and held her as Mac began to cry. "It's going to be okay."

"No, it won't." Mac said as she cried all over Veronica's shirt. "I hate him, yet I can't get over this. I can't believe I was this stupid, this needy. I don't need anyone. I should have learned my lesson, no one stays."

Veronica could recall a time when she believed that. It had been when she had been at her worst low so she just held Mac and said "I won't, not again."

Mac scoffed and pushed her way. "You? You are the queen of leaving. You run and leave the rest of us to pick up the pieces. Logan, your dad, Wallace. I had to be there for them. Then Logan got past it and it was like he barely remembered my name. I was the one who poured him into bed night after night, who listened to his pain filled stories of you. Then wham bam, who are you again?"

"Mac..." Veronica knew that Mac had been upset with her, but it was clear that this argument with Dick had brought up things that Mac had thought she was past.

"No, Veronica, I know that you don't want to hear about the devastation you left behind you, after all you just glossed over it, it's what you do." She said standing and moving away from Veronica.

"You know what I did that fall, Veronica. I was there emotionally for your best friend, your father, your ex boyfriend right up until he started to walk right past me on campus like I didn't exist. I was there for all of them, yet not a single person asked how I was doing. Not a single one."

Veronica knew that this misplaced anger wasn't meant for her but it still hurt as she saw Mac's rage. "I held it in, after all that is what I do. I am so sick of doing the right thing, of helping when I really, really just want to run screaming as far away as I can, yet here I am, you aren't even back six months and my life is a mess."

Mac picked up the stupid tacky glass figurine that Veronica had sent her a few years back and tossed it at her wall. As it shattered, she found pleasure in the millions of pieces on the ground. Reaching for the next one, she said "Veronica Mars, the great detective doesn't even realize that... Go, just go, I hate you."

When Veronica didn't leave, when she moved towards her, Mac tossed the figurine and smashed it. "Get the heck out, go run, do what you do best."

Veronica was trying to embrace Mac when she found her arms behind her back as Mac frog marched her to the door then hissed. "Get out, Ronnie."

Going outside, Veronica heard the door being locked and taking out her phone, hesitated then called her dad. "Dad, what can you tell me about how Mac reacted to my leaving town?"

Listening to her dad, Veronica winced as he talked about how strong Mac had been for everyone and how she had been repeatedly called down to the police station to pick up Logan, she knew she had to talk to her boyfriend.

Opening her purse, she found some paper and wrote Mac a note then slipped it under the door and then knocked on the door. Hearing glass shattering as another figurine hit the door, Veronica left and went to her car. She knew that what had just happened was because Mac was feeling very emotional about her past with Dick, but she couldn't confront him without facts and she had to get those soon.

Calling and leaving Wallace a note, she hesitated and called Weevil. As they discussed his own investigation, she asked "Weevil, what do you remember about from the time I left Hearst?"

"What specifically are you talking about?" He asked.

"With Mac?" She asked.

"Mac?" Weevil seemed to be talking to himself then he said "Sorry but I just realized that I didn't see her much except when she was heading to class. She just seemed really busy."

"How often did you talk to her the last nine years?" She asked.

"I would see her here and there." He replied. "She was moving up the ranks of her job, I knew that because Wallace mentioned it a few times when we would run into each other. I know that she spent most of the summer you left for Washington with Logan and Casablancas. Otherwise, I couldn't tell you much."

"What about Parker?" She asked. "Did you see them together much?"

"No, I think that Mac had a single dorm after her freshman year." He said. "Yeah, she did because I remember Parker was rooming with some perky cheerleader type. I don't remember seeing them together at all."

Hanging up a few minutes later, Veronica hesitated then typed an e-mail to Logan asking the same thing and went to locate a certain dick.

Not finding him at his place, Veronica considered searching his room, but she wasn't going to do that unless it was a last resort. Hearing her phone pinging, she saw she had a message from Logan.

"_That summer we were around each other a lot, but when I found out you left, I went numb that fall. I remember just walking around like a ghost, other than when I had to bail Dick out of trouble. _

_It was like Mac just faded away. I just noticed one day about Christmas time, there was a new video game that came out and when I tried to speak to her, Parker said that she didn't want to talk to me. I gave her my new phone number and asked her to give it to Mac._

_I ran into her a few weeks later and it was like she just looked straight through me. I tried to reach her a few more times, but Parker just kept saying she didn't want to talk to me. I eventually just decided that she blamed me for you leaving._

_I did ask Dick about Mac because it seemed like they had developed a truce, he just smashed the bottle he had in his hands at the time against the wall and called her a fucking bitch and said that Ghostworld wasn't worth the time._

_Now that we know they were involved, I think that Mac didn't only blame me for you but for whatever happened between Dick and her. I think that she is partially right in that by the way._

_The party that she walked into, the one you said where she saw Dick with Shelly and Madison, that was my fault. I was the one who invited all the 09ers to the suite, then ducked out of the party and went to the beach._

_When I came into the suite later the next morning, Dick needed to go to the hospital. He had broken his hand. I kicked the two tramps out of his room. At the time, I had thought they had slept in there by themselves because I had found a blanket and a pillow on the balcony. Now, who the hell knows."_

Veronica winced as she had a thought, going back to the office, she located the number for the former Parker Lee, now Parker Harrison.

Leaving a message on the machine, Veronica went to speak to her dad who had her do the field work on their latest cheating spouse case. "How is Mac?"

"She kicked me out of the apartment, dad. I am beginning to piece together the pieces of the puzzle and it isn't pretty." She said with a sigh. "The thing is, she hates Dick, at least that is what she says yet he is there, helping, trying to take care of her. They are getting close again and Mac hates herself for it."

"Veronic_a, _you of all people know that love doesn't always make sense." He pointed out. "I think that Mac has a lot on her plate right now, she is dealing with her dad, her past coming back and I am beginning to think that you know more about that than I do."

"Long story let's just leave it at Dick was a total asshole in the past." She said shaking her head. "Worse than anything he has ever done."

__

LoVe&MaDi

Dick said goodnight to Mac's parents as he left the hospital room. He had come there to make sure that Mac went home but she had never shown up. Her mom had said that Mac had called to tell them that she hadn't felt well so she was staying away to keep from infecting her dad.

He had had several calls from Veronica and other than listening to them had ignored the blond. He was sure that she wanted to talk to him, he was positive that it more likely would end up with his being tazed so he listened just in case to make sure that Mac wasn't actually sick.

Stopping at the store, picking up some dinner in case Mac hadn't eaten, he went to her place, grabbed the bag he had in the trunk and went upstairs to her apartment.

Letting himself in, grimacing knowing that she would be angry when she found out that the management staff had given him a key at simply a call.

Finding broken glass all over the place, he saw that it was the oddly tacky figurines that matched nothing else in the apartment. Walking into her bedroom, he saw that Mac was at her computer typing away. "Have a temper tantrum?"

"Go fuck yourself." She said in a cold tone.

Dick went to the living room and tossed his phone and keys on the console by the door then went to find a broom. Beginning to sweep up the piles of glass, he heard footsteps and looked up when he heard her bitter laugh.

"Wow, Dick Casablancas doing housework, the end of the world must be imminent." She said leaning against the wall with her arms crossed as she continued to mock him.

Getting rid of the trash bag, he winced when he saw her door was closed and expecting to find the door locked, he opened it and said "You didn't lock me out."

"I will keep my bargain. I don't break my promises." She said then walking back to her bedroom said "Stay away from my parents though."

__

LoVe&MaDi  


Wallace told Veronica what he remembered then said "I got a call from Piz who had a call from Parker today. Apparently she confessed to lying to Logan. Told him that she did it for both of them. She had had hopes that with you gone, Logan would come back to her. When it didn't happen, she blamed Mac."

Veronica shook her head and with a sad voice, filled Wallace in on what had happened that morning. Wallace looked at her and said "You know, Logan did ask me a couple times about Mac, but I was pissed because I knew you had dumped Piz and told him that if he wanted to talk to Mac, go do it himself."

"Veronica, what didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"I promised Mac I wouldn't tell anyone but let's just leave it that something happened and she really needed help dealing with it, but I skipped town, you and she were going through a difficult time and she had no one." Veronica felt sick with guilt as she realized that ultimately this all led back to her letter to Madison and how she had left town.

Wallace lifted the beer he had on the counter and admitted. "I was sort of terrible to Mac then. I blamed her for still being friendly with Logan and Dick. We moved past it, at least I thought we had but now, I wonder if she just ignored it."

"I have called and gone back a few times today. I didn't use my key, I didn't think I should but she has sent my calls to voice mail and won't answer the door." Veronica said.

"What the hell happened between Dick and her?" Wallace burst out with the question as he tried to wrap his mind around Mac's pain. "What could have been worse than what happened with Beaver?"

Resting her head against his shoulder, Veronica said "He let her down when she needed him, when she had begun to trust again. The actual event was huge but in the overall scheme of things, it was the loss of trust. Add to that my leaving and Mac not telling me what was going on. Your anger, Logan going away emotionally and Mac trying to keep my dad from being depressed and you have a mess."

"What I don't get is Parker." Wallace said. "She didn't even have the balls to call Mac herself and confess, she called Piz."

__

LoVe&MaDi

Dick went to bed, laid there staring at the ceiling trying to get Mac to say more than two words to him that weren't threatening. "I have the pre-nup."

"Good." She said. "When?"

"When what?" He asked.

"The announcement?" She asked from her side of the bed.

"I was thinking we could have a small get together, tell your parents." He said.

"Which set?" She asked with a cold laugh. Seeing him looking her way she said "It's nothing, Just let me know when and where so I can show up and play my part."

"My mother called, she will be in town this weekend. I agreed to have lunch with her on Sunday." He said. "You should be there."

"Sure why not, I can ask her over sandwiches and soup how she ended up married to your dad and maybe she can tell me how she managed to breed such bastards for sons." She said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Seeing his anger she said "No? Okay how about I ask her if she ever regrets leaving you with your dad and letting you turn into a jackass just like him."

"Or better yet, why didn't she just have an abort-."

Dick didn't want to hear that word, it was already like acid eating away at his soul. So he reached for Mac, running his fingers through her hair to hold her head still as he kissed her to stop the words.

When Mac's hands tangled into his hair, he was sure that she was about to yank on it but instead she just opened her lips and deepened the kiss. Rough hands pulled at her pajamas, lips kissed, sucked and tasted warming skin as hands caressed one another.

Dick hated that Mac had even thought the word abortion, Mac hated herself for what had happened the night before as they both fought to get closer to one another, to find that pleasure, that intensity that they had found with no one else.

He ripped her panties, thrusting his fingers inside, moaning at the knowledge she was wet and willing even if she was as tight as she had been that very first time they were together.

Mac felt him pressing against her entrance, hated herself for the aching need that only he seemed to fill as she dug her fingertips into his skin at his hips.

Eyes meeting, they saw the anger at each other and the need and self disgust at what was going on in their own hearts. His hips thrust forward, hers claimed him and her legs wrapped around his upper thighs as she moaned out loud at how good it felt.

Thrusting in, he buried his head in her shoulder, determined not to talk to her, not to kiss her, to just get what he wanted. To stay as emotionally unattached as he did to the one night stands that littered his past, but it was the girl who had owned and broken his heart and in spite of everything she had done, Dick found it impossible not to want to love her.

Mac arched her back, the feel of him buried deep inside had her closing her eyes, trying to take herself out of the moment, trying to make herself believe that this was just one of those odd fantasies she had had over the years. That she wasn't falling back in love with that asshold who had hurt her at her darkest moment, that she hadn't missed him, not just sexually but the way he had made her laugh in spite of herself, the way he had made her feel just by reaching for her hand.

Each movement tearing down walls as different ones were built, neither giving up their own prejudices, both determined to make sure that the other knew that this, this changed nothing.

The it happened, Dick felt more than heard Mac's gasp and his mind slipped into the past, into the last time they had been in a bed together, when he had finally, finally realized that he loved the girl. That what he was feeling was more intense, more real than he had expected love to be.

For Mac, she felt sick as she admitted to herself that in spite of the past nine years, in spite of the personal hell she had gone through as a result of her miscarriage and his screwing around with Madiso_n, someplace, deep down she still loved the asshole. That she wasn't falling back in love but that she still loved him._

Sickened, both just tried to get back to the numb and angry place that they had been occupying for the last several years as their thrusts slowed down and Dick's lips came down to press a kiss to hers.

Holding her tight, he felt his release approaching and when Mac's inner muscles clenched tightly around him, he came and his ejaculation sent her over the edge.

Unable to move, not wanting to be pulled back to the present, Dick just held tightly to Mac, his head buried in her shoulder, this time his lips pressing kisses to her soft skin. His mind shouting he loved her even as he faced that this hadn't been about a baby, that it hadn't been about revenge, no this had been a way to get Mac back into his life and to keep her there.

Mac felt the tears on her face and lectured herself for being so stupid. She knew better than to ever trust a member of the Casablancas family.

She had learned her lesson first with Beaver and then a mere fourteen months later with Dick, yet here she was, back in bed with him, still feeling the same emotions. She had always mocked girls who did stupid stuff like this, yet here she was, biting her lips to keep from telling him what she felt.

Sleep claimed them, both holding tightly onto one another, the emotions of the day sending them to unconsciousness. Both knowing that tomorrow would bring the cold light of day and repercussions for their actions.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Veronica saw Mac leaving her dad's hospital room and moved to talk to her friend hoping that she would be willing to talk to her. "Hey."

"Veronica, I am so sorry. I was so angry with Dick, but took it out on you because you were there. We clearly need to talk but right now it not a good time." She said wearily. "My dad is going to the rehabilitation center in the morning and I have too much to do to rehash the past."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked quietly thinking that if anyone should be apologizing it was her. She was beginning to think that Mac should be furious with her, especially if Madison had gone to that party to start trouble like she think she did.

"No. Wait, yes, I have some papers that I have to send to Dick. He should be at the beach house this afternoon." She replied then reaching into her bag, pulled out the sealed thick envelope with Dick's name on front and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"Any time." Veronica said curious what was inside but determined not to snoop, not when she was going to speak directly to Dick. Driving to the beach house, her mind on Logan's morning e-mail.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick listened to Mac's message and winced. "Dick, I don't welsh on my debts. We do whatever it is you need then I get to fade away all over again from your life. Then we are even."

Hearing a knock on the door then seeing Veronica entering, he said "I already know. Logan left a message for me too."

"Then you know that Parker lied to him." She said. Seeing his confusion, she asked "What message did Logan leave?"

"That his ship is heading to San Diego because of some sort of needed repair." He said.

Veronica looked at her phone then opened her e-mails. Finding the latest message from him, she found herself smiling at the idea of seeing him sooner than the hundred and eighty days.

"What did Parker lie about?" He asked sitting down on the bar stool. "Not that that is exactly a surprise. She went all Glenn Close on him after they broke up until she transferred to a school closer to home."

She considered not telling him but after looking at Dick, she realized that part of the problem had to have been cross communication because she really doubted that even Dick would have been that much of a dick, not if he still had feelings for Mac nine years later.

"Logan went looking for Mac fall of sophomore year and Parker lied and said she didn't want to talk to him that she didn't want him speaking to her." Veronica said.

"Bitch." Dick said shaking his head. "I never liked her, I was glad she was the anti you at first because you kept tearing him to fucking shreds but in spite of the superficial sweetness, she was a complete and total stalker chick."

"Parker and Piz were road kill on the mess of Logan and my life." Veronica said with a slight shrug. "Until I found out about her lies, I felt sorry for her."

"Yeah well I got drunk one night, went to speak to Mac. Begged her to tell me why she did what she did and she told me that Mac was back with Max. It wasn't until I got sober enough a few months later that I learned she had lied about that."

"They hadn't even roomed together sophomore year, Dick." Veronica pointed out.

"I know that now. At the time, I was drunk more than I was sober." He answered then went to stand on the back patio. Seeing Veronica following, he said "I know about Mac's dad, I helped find the rehab center for him."

"Mac asked me to give this to you." She said handing him the envelope. When he tore it open right away, she craned her neck to get a closer look at what seemed to be legal paperwork. Hearing him cuss, she said "Something wrong."

"Nothing." He said in a terse tone as he saw that pretty much everything she would have gotten in a settlement had they divorced was crossed out and initialed. All she had agreed to was the paying of her dad's medical bills and any future medication.

Moving through the pages, finding out that she had crossed out the part where she would forfeit any children, he tightened his grip and looked at Veronica. "I don't know what game Mac is trying to play but tell her that since she was the one wanted to go through with this, the clause on page two stands."

Veronica went to reach for the papers and Dick pulled them closer to him then said "No, these are none of your business."

"Dick, what is going on?" She demanded an answer to her question. "I saw Mac yesterday morning and she wasn't happy."

He looked at Veronica over the paperwork, he said "Veronica, I know that oddly enough for once you want to help me but Mac and I, we need to argue this out ourselves."

"Dick, you are tearing each other apart, at least let me help." She said a bit annoyed to realize that Dick was going to reject her offer.

Grabbing his keys, he edged her towards the driveway then standing next to his car said "Veronica, Mac and I, we have some pretty depressing issues to work through, things that as far as I know Logan and you didn't have to deal with. Mac thinks that I am wrong to be upset at what she did and I can't believe she acts like what happened at the suite is the worst part of our relationship. That she is completely innocent."

With that, he got into his car and drove off. Getting his attorney to draw up to separate pre nups, he went to see Mac at the hospital. After talking to her mother, he went to the cafeteria where she was supposedly eating with her little brother.

Ryan faded away, amused at how Dick managed to piss of Mac in ways that he had never seen.

"Here, the altered agreement." He said throwing the papers down in front of her. Mac read the agreement, signed it and seeing that there was a second set, missing seeing Dick's smirk as he put that set in an envelope for his attorney.

"Now what?" She demanded.

"You start playing the loving girlfriend. I was understanding about your behavior when your dad was in the hospital, after all you are under a lot of stress, but as of today, that is no longer an excuse." Dick had debated on the ride over of walking away, just letting this stupid idea of his go but he soon realized if he did that Mac would never let him get this close again and he wouldn't have a better chance to make things right. It was difficult letting the abortion go, it killed him but he didn't want to lose her.

Mac grimaced and said "No one is going to buy us as lovers."

"The thing is, Mac. We are lovers." He pointed out. He saw her frown and reminded her of the night before. Mac looked like she wanted to puke but she seemed to draw on an inner strength and gained control of her emotions.

"Now, my mother is going to be in San Francisco for some fundraiser this weekend before coming to Neptune Sunday. Your dad is well enough that we can fly up there and attend it. You play the loving girlfriend and I will play the same. My mom thinks that I am proposing this weekend. You will say yes and we will get engaged. I have a ring already, all I need is your dress size so that she can arrange a gown of some sort for this stupid black and white thing."

Mac started to protest but Dick just reminded her of the agreement she had signed the day of the transplant. "Fine, six. Shoes I need a seven and a half, if they are heels I need the water soles to be able to walk in them."

"I will let her know." He replied then with a frown, tilted her head and pressed a hard kiss to her lips then left them hospital, leaving Mac with a set of the pre nup agreements.

Mac opened it up, her mind on trying to stop this mess, she read that he had agreed to everything up to what to do with any mythological kids that they might have. On that he had left in his demand that they stay married until the kids were eighteen, living in the same house.

Shaking her head, annoyed with him but knowing that he had no chance to get her pregnant. After her miscarriage, she was placed on some highly effective birth control pills and she was religious in her determination to take them.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Veronica had tried repeatedly to talk to Mac about the past over the next few weeks but her friend refused to listen, Mac just dismissed her requests to talk out their issues, instead she seemed completely wrapped up in Dick Casablancas which made no sense to Veronica.

When she had asked when Mac was going back to work full time, her friend had been even more evasive. Growing annoyed, Veronica had talked to Logan who said that maybe they should just leave it alone for now.

"I can't. Mac is hurting and pretending like there is nothing going on. Yet, I know that Dick spends most nights at her place." Veronica said with an annoyed sigh. "She won't talk about it with me. I asked her for help with a case and she came over, did the work and wouldn't let me speak to her about anything else."

"Veronica, I will be in port in just twelve days. I need to talk to her myself, maybe if it is me, not you. She will answer. After all she has yelled at you already, maybe what she needs is to hear it from me."

"I could just slap Parker." Veronica said in an angry tone."

Hanging up, she went to see Wallace who was still at school. "Every single time I walk into this classroom, I feel like I am sixteen again."

"I still remember Mr. Wu." Wallace said as he cleaned the dry erase board that had replaced the chalk board in his room. "You know he moved to a retirement village just outside of Arizona?"

"Nope, the moment I walked out of here, I forgot every single one of my teachers." Veronica replied sitting on top of his desk and swinging her legs. "So, teach, what do you think of my chances of using science after I graduate?"

Shaking his head, Wallace tugged Veronica off his desk, reached over to grab her bag and escort her to the parking lot. Hearing one of his students making a joke about his hot girlfriend and how he didn't know he had it in him, Wallace turned and said "Mr. Biggs, I would like you to meet my best friend. Veronica Mars."

Nodding the younger boy found it hard to meet the beautiful blonde's eyes as he kept looking at the two guys and one girl nearby. "Veronica, this is Thad Biggs. One of my more promising students when he remembers that girls are actually as smart or smarter than him. Biggs, Ms. Mars boyfriend is an aviator on the USS George H. W. Bush."

"Cool so is he more like Ton Cruise or Val Kilmer because Tom is still hot and Val got fat." A teenager girl asked.

"This is Ms Lydia Robards. Thad's girlfriend." Wallace said.

"Tom Cruises' character but with more swagger." Veronica answered her question then looking at Wallace said "What's your opinion?"

"Logan is Logan." He replied then when the two kids had left, told Veronica. "Mr. Biggs has been trying to set me up on a date with his older sister. My love live is pretty sad when my sixteen year old students are setting me up on dates."

They were at their cars when Wallace said. "I uh, got another call from Piz."

"Well, you two are still friends, I am sure that isn't unusual." Veronica replied.

"Not so much since he felt that I should have forced you to return to New York. He might have told you he was fine, he might have even initiated the break up, but I truly think he thought that you would come back to him." Wallace replied. "Anyhow, the reason I mentioned it. I did some asking and were you aware that Parker and he had stayed in touch all these years?"

"No, hadn't given it a second thought." Veronica replied.

"Yeah, anyhow, he got talking about Parker during our little chat and he gave me some very interesting news." Wallace replied then looking around at the empty parking lot, said "Parker and Piz after you left for Stanford spent a lot of time commiserating together. He sort of admitted that he felt that you dumped him because of Mac's interference."

Veronica looked at him, ice now in her eyes as she realized that good guy Wallace had more to say and that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be pretty. "Wallace?"

Taking a deep breath, he said "Parker and Piz slept together while you were dating Veronica. He was a bit drunk on the phone and said that they have pretty much had a regular thing since those first few weeks of school. A friends with benefits thing going."

"Really?" She asked a bit shocked but really not caring.

"Yeah, it went on even while you were dating Piz and she was dating Logan. A one time thing that just happened according to him. They have continued to get together a couple times a year, he also admitted that there is a good chance, that the baby Parker is carrying, that he or she might be his."

""Are you serious?" Veronica asked now a bit pissed as she recalled that Parker was almost ready to give birth and that the call to Veronica from Logan had only taken place in March. ""I feel bad for her husband."

"Just don't go writing him any notes, Veronica." He cautioned. "Don't destroy a family in case that Piz is lying."

"Oh, I won't." Veronica most definitely would stay out of it, but she would be damned if she let what Parker did to Mac go. She wasn't sure how much was her own guilt for abandoning Mac and how much of it was anger about what had happened between Parker and Piz but then two hours later as she left the office of Mar's investigations, she realized that she wasn't even upset.

"Who knows maybe part of me knew that they were screwing around." She said with a heavy sigh as she walked into her dad's house. Seeing his inquiring expression, she said "Parker Lee, Mac's old college roommate and Piz were having a long term couple times a year affair all the way going back to when we were all at Hearst together. She is eight months pregnant, care to guess who the possible daddy is?"

"The worst part is that I am more angry about her lies to Mac than I am about the affair." Veronica admitted.

"Have you talked to Piz about it?" Keith asked quietly.

"Nope, was thinking on sending him some cigars with congratulations daddy but was too afraid that he might think I was pregnant." She said with a shudder. Seeing her dad's face, she said "If I was, it would be Logan's, dad."

"I don't know whether to be happy about that or terrified at the idea of being a grandfather." He admitted as he attempted to stand. "Just a little tired tonight, the PT guy worked me over pretty good. I think he took pleasure in making me sweat."

Veronica was looking through her e-mails when she saw one with the word will in the subject box. Pulling it up, she read the thank you for the narrow escape and that it was signed Abraham. Smirking at the idea of Madison not ending up with anything, she close dosed down her tablet and went to bed.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick looked at Mac as she put lotion on her skin after her late night shower. They had been having sex, making love, whatever you wanted to call it almost nightly. It had been almost four straight weeks of great sex, but immediately after they were finished, Mac would hop out of bed and go shower. She would return all nice and pink, then sit down and put lotion on her body. The thing was, he was no closer to his new goal of winning her heart than he was the day she walked away from him.

The visit to San Francisco had been strained. They had played the loving couple for his mother but Mac had not been very happy the entire weekend. He himself had been a bit thrown to find out that the cause of the week hadn't been what he had heard, no, it had been in support of pregnant women. Neither Mac nor he had been particularly happy about it.

Somehow his mother had come up with a gown that had been incredible, form fitting and perfect for Mac's figure, he had ended up spending most of the night with a hard on, which when they had gone back to the hotel and he had tried to kiss Mac had resulted in yet another fight.

At brunch the next day, when he had proposed down by the wharf, a bit of a distance from his mother and her latest attachment, he could hear Mac choking on the word yes.

He knew that this was the last thing she wanted, had known that if he hadn't been blackmailing her to begin with and if she hadn't felt she owed him she would have said no, but it had still hurt.

His mother had recognized the ring, so after Mac had gone to the ladies room, he had heard from her a quickly hissed but clearly angry lecture about giving the woman he loved a ring that had belonged to someone else first.

He had quickly said that the real ring had had to be resized and that he would give it to Mac as soon as it was returned to him. She had been placated and had been thrilled by his promise of a summer wedding. What he hadn't told her was the truth that he couldn't give Mac the ring yet, that he knew giving her a ring that told her he loved her would enrage his fiancee.

"Dick!"

Coming back to the present, Dick looked at Mac who was now dressed in her work clothes. "Where are you going?"

"Veronica needs my help." She said with a bit of a grimace.

He wanted to protest but he knew that doing so would only give Mac what she wanted so instead he just told her to be careful and said that he had to head to the house.

"Good, why don't you consider spending the night there." She replied.

"I wouldn't want my fiancee to forget about me." He said with a slight frown as he lay back onto the pillows and watched her slip her shoes on. "One week, Mac. I agreed to wait until Logan is back, but we are telling them. I won't delay it any longer."

Rolling her eyes, Mac grabbed her messenger bag and went to Mars Investigations offices. Seeing Keith Mars, she looked around and asked "Where's Veronica?"

"She is on her way. She had a quick stop to make." He replied then when he started to talk, he was quickly asked what Veronica needed. "Just for you to get the footage from the traffic camera on Fifth two weeks ago around midnight."

Nodding, Mac sat down and got to work, when Veronica arrived, she quickly nodded at her friend and kept working. Twenty minutes later, she showed Veronica the footage of the police chase. "Was this it?"

"Yes, thanks." She replied and when she sat down across from Mac and tried to bring up the past, Mac said that she had to go see her dad. "We have to talk Mac."

"I know, but not now" She replied succinctly worried that her eage eyed friend might figure out that she was in love with Dick and that wasn't anything Mac wanted to deal with. Over the last month, Dick had insisted on dinner dates, simple going to the beach others, spending time at museusms and going to movies, they had even gone to the zoo together and Mac was finding it hard to remember that she couldn't trust him, that none of this was real. "Look, I get it, you left and got busy and things happened. I shouldn't have put the blame on you for what happened here."

"That is just it, it was my fault." Veronica said trying to get her to listen. "You don't know what I did."

"The letter to Madison?" Mac asked and saw Veronica's stunned expression. With a slightly hysterical laugh, she said "Yeah, she told me. A few years ago. It wouldn't have changed anything. Dick still could have said no. Frankly Veronica, I should have expected you to out my secret for your own reasons. It's what you did then. You grew out of it, but looking back, that year. I can't believe we were still friends."

With that she left and Veronica flinched as she heard the dismissive tone in Mac's voice. Looking up when she heard footsteps, she saw her father standing there. "Veronica, what secret of Mac's did you tell?"

Veronica looked at her dad and in a monotone filled him in on what she had done. She saw him shaking his head and said "That isn't all of it. Who do you think I went to crack Jake's computer?"

"Veronica!" Her dad looked at his hands then at his daughter. "I know that you have realized you were out of control back then, but the more I hear of what happened to others in your life back then. I can't help thinking I was a terrible father. That I taught you to use your friends as well as your enemies."

"Dad, you aren't at fault for that, I am." She said.

"Yes, you are for what you did but I worried about the wrong things, Veronica. I was so worried about Logan, that I missed how messed up you really were. Now I suggest that you tell me what Madison Sinclair did that has Mac so angry with you."

Veronica hesitated then filled him in on the entire mess.

"Veronica, first of all, Ms. Sinclair didn't knowingly drug you." He said looking at his daughter. "Yes, she is a very unpleasant young lady but you are still blaming her for the one thing she wasn't responsible for. Now about the fact that she slept with Logan. You two weren't together at the time. It was wrong of him to not tell you but I understand why he didn't."

"I moved past that dad." She said. "It's why I broke up with him. It is one of the reasons I realized I had to leave Neptune, how I overreacted to everything."

"Veronica..." He let out a heavy sigh and said "You had no right using Mac's secret like that. None."

"I know." She admitted her words trembling as she looked at her dad. "Logan and I talked back and forth about this, this week. We cleared the air about a lot of things. Yet, I haven't told Mac this but I think that whatever led to Dick not being there for her, I think that it was the result of games by Madison. I think that she knew about Mac."

"Either way, Mac should be informed of all the facts, Veronica." Keith said then looking at his daughter said "This is why I don't want you back. I am so afraid you will end up back at that very same dark spot."

Veronica hugged her dad, then said "I have to go talk to Mac."

Arriving at the school two hours later after not finding Mac, Veronica saw Wallace was joking around with his students before reminding them that they had a final in a few days.

"You know, Papa Bear, I think you became a teacher so that you could have summers off. C'mon, just confess." She teased.

"I have to finish my dissertation this summer, Veronica." He said with a glare. "I don't have the summer off. Now, what is up with the visit. I don't see any coffee in those hands. I thought we had a deal, if you come to see me at school, caffeine must be part of the package."

"Sorry, no time." She said with a smirk. "I was hoping you would be my sounding board."

"Mac?" He asked. Seeing her surprise, he said "Logan and you are doing well and he isn't back yet to screw that up."

"Logan wasn't the only one screwing our relationship, up, Wallace." She replied as she sat on his desk watching him wipe the dry erase board. "I made as many mistakes as he did."

"Yes, you did, but I don't think you would need a sounding board for that." He replied.

"Don't be so sure of that." She said. "I uh, wrote Madison a letter when I got to Stanford. Using a secret of Mac's to hurt Madison."

"Oh, Ronnie."

Veronica looked at Wallace and saw his anger. "Wait, it's worse. I think that is what led to Madison going to the penthouse and what happened that night with Dick."

"Veronica Mars." He said his voice terse as he struggled not to yell at her. Counting to ten, he gained control and said "How bad is this secret?"

"Bad enough when you consider Madison would let an innocent man biologically related to her die to inherit a fortune." She said quietly. Seeing him looking at her, she said "It's bad only for Madison. I didn't think of it at the time, but now, I have to admit that I don't see any real downside to Mac if it came out."

"Does Mac see a downside, Veronica?" He asked still spitting out his words. "Because she is the only one whose opinion matters."

"At the time, I didn't want to look at it that way." She evaded answering him.

"So that is a heck yes." He replied shaking his head. "Veronica!"

"I know and the worst part is, that I have to tell Mac the rest of it." Veronica replied. "She knew what I did. She has known for a while."

Mac sat on the beach staring off into the distance. Hearing her name, she turned to see Weevil's wife coming her way. Greeting Jade, she invited her to sit down and asked "Where is your little girl?"

"With Weevil, I brought her down from my mother's so that they could spend some time together." She replied.

Mac felt bad for the woman, her husband's innocent gesture of kindness had wrecked their family all because Celeste Kane was a complete and total bitch. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Mac should be concentrating on taking down that woman.

"Jade-."

"No, please, don't say it." She replied looking at Mac. "I know that Veronica is trying to help and that you are helping her but Mac, I just don't have it in me, to forgive him for getting back involved with that group again." She said. "I get it, I do get it why he has done so but we have a daughter. Why can't we just make sure he is found not guilty and then leave. No, he won't let that happen, he has to stand up to those people."

"He is trying to do the right thing, Jade." She replied.

"Those people, they always win." Jade replied standing and brushing off the sand.

Mac thought about it and realized that Jade was pretty much right. Time to stop sulking and to find answers because otherwise more than just her life would be hurt.

Watching Jade leave, Mac went home, grabbed her laptop and went to 'borrow' some Internet access that couldn't be tracked back to her. Two hours later, she had the insurance file on her dad, the Organ Donation files on not only her dad but on Abraham Masters and then after a little more typing, she had Celeste Kane's bank records.

Just as she was about to log off, she had an idea and went to grab a few more files. Dan Lamb, Madison Sinclair and the rest of the Sinclair family as well as Jerry Sacks.

There was nothing too suspicious in Abraham Masters files, she was a bit surprised to realize how close of a connection he had to the Sinclair family but otherwise, there was absolutely nothing shady in the man's files.

Dan Lamb's income didn't match his standard of living but it would be difficult to prove bribery. Jerry Sacks was pretty standard for the Balboa County Sheriff's department.

Most of the Sinclair family information was old news to Mac. Her sister Lauren was attending med school in Baltimore, Maryland and rarely came home but otherwise she was a typical college student. Her biological parents were nothing different, other than Matt's helpfulness to Mr. Masters there was nothing different from anything she had seen for years.

Madison's file was the same, she had the standard shopping expenditures, the standing tickets that mysteriously went away, the typical calls on her cell phone. Shelly, Pam, Caitlin, Kimmie and a few others from high school. She called Casey Gant's office a lot but they were always short calls.

The police station but that seemed to correspond to her parking and speeding tickets. Several numbers connected to Abraham Masters, a couple to Celeste Kane that got her attention but they could be explained as they were usually before or after calls to the Masters house.

Mac was about to get rid of the cell phone records when she saw a few odd calls. Writing down the numbers, she pulled out the disposable phone she had grabbed earlier that week and dialed the numbers.

The first one was to a plastic surgeon which wasn't a surprise, the second one had her very, very interested. Madison had called the home phone of one Dan Lamb. A call that also tracked back to a one night hotel stay at the Grand.

Was Madison sleeping with the Sheriff?

Smirking at the idea, she looked at the next unknown call and dialed the number. "SoCal Real Estate, how may I direct your call?"

"Where are you located?" Mac asked and on being told that this was the Santa Barbara office, she asked if they had an office in San Diego or Neptune. Getting the address, Mac wrote it down dialed the next few numbers.

A fertility clinic, a pharmacy and she went to the last number.

"Hello?"

Mac quickly disguised her voice and asked for Steffi not sure if this particular person would remember her.

"You have the wrong number." She said told. Mac hung up and looked at the phone in shock.

"Why oh why would Madison have been calling Duncan Kane? Better question is why would Duncan Kane be speaking to Madison Sinclair and back in the states when he was supposed to be in New Zealand." Those were the last words Mac said before she went unconscious.

A man swore softly, lifted her out of her car and carried her to the waiting limo. "I have to drive her car to the house."

"Let me do it, I would be less conscious." Replied the woman getting out of the black stretch limo. "I will meet you there."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Dick was a bit upset when he got to Mac's place, she hadn't been at Veronica's, at the office, with her dad and no one had seen or talked to her since before lunch.

She hadn't answered her phone and had been avoiding him all day. Hearing a knock on the door, he opened it. "Mars."

"Dick." She looked at his scowl and then said "Did I interrupt something?"

"No." He replied then said "I can't find Mac."

Looking at him, she became serious and said "I haven't seen her either."

"I know, we already talked about this on the phone." He said getting frustrated. "Would you please, track her phone."

"I can't." She admitted then asked if he had spoken to the Mackenzies.

"Yes, they hadn't spoken to her since this morning." He admitted. "Look, something doesn't feel right. I got a strange call today from Jake Kane and now, Mac is missing. Just help me find her."

"What did Jake want?" Veronica asked in an icy tone.

"Oddly enough, it was about Madison." Dick replied with a frown. "He was asking all sort of oddly personal questions about my past with Madison."

"I knew he was growing a bit daft, but really?" Veronica didn't get why this was important but obviously it had been to Jake Kane. "What did you tell him?"

Shrugging, Dick said "Just that yes, she did sleep around quite a bit. He did seem a bit surprised to hear that it wasn't only with guys."

"Really?" Veronica asked. "I mean, after what Mac told me about what she saw, I kind of knew that she was up for anything but I thought that you did both of them, not..."

Dick was tired, and worried so he was a bit more open than he had intended. "Oh yes, the incident that Mac has a bug up her butt about."

"The INCIDENT?!" Veronica was about to attack him when she had a thought. Counting to ten, getting that she needed to be calm for this, she asked "Dick, what happened that night?"

Scoffing, he said. "With me, nothing more than me being an ass, but unlike what Mac thought, I wasn't having sex with the two bimbos. Let's just say that you aren't the only one with an embarrassing video out there. More like yours is tame compared to hers."

"DICK, IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO beat the crap out of you, tell me what happened that night, BEFORE Mac came." She hastily replied.

"I wasn't in any mood for a fucking party and I came into the suite and there was a full blown party going on. Logan was no where in sight and fucking Enbom came over to greet me like he was the damn host. I was handed a damn goodie bag full of drugs and condoms and in my bedroom, Luke was having sex with Pam."

Dick sat down and looked at Veronica. "I took the damn bag with me to the balcony, I thought no one could see me, so I looked in the bag, found the damn green capsules that I thought were pain killers and took them."

"What were they if they weren't pain killers?" She asked.

"Fucking ritalin shit." He said. "I was trying to find Logan so he could get the assholes out of there, they had just ignored me when I suggested they leave. Anyhow, I knew that there was a blanket and a pillow in the box out there. I pulled them out, just wanting to be left alone."

"How did Madison and Shelly end up out there?" She asked.

"They came out together, both half undressed and making out. I pulled out my cell phone, I had heard them making comments about you and was amusing myself with the thought of ruining the two of them." He said coldly.

"Mac thinks you were involved." She said.

"They went a few rounds before Madison saw me in the corner. I had it all on tape and when she saw me, I made a joke about enjoying taking them down. They took it to mean something other than my destroying them with the tape and I had hidden the cell phone. I was already in a foul mood and the stupid drugs made it worse so when Madison tried to get my shirt off or Shelly, one of them, I looked up to see Mac standing there."

"What did you say to Mac, Dick?"

Closing his eyes, he said "I told her not to just stand there, that if she was staying to get undressed that we were way ahead of her."

"Fuck, Dick. You have no idea..." Dick heard Veronica swearing and looking at her saw she was almost in tears which made no sense.

"Madison made a comment about something and Mac just looked at me and then left." Dick said. "I shoved Madison away at that point and she said something to Shelly about Mac. I was going to go after her when I remembered why I was so angry with her in the first place."

"Which was?" Veronica probed as gently as she could but it was too late, Dick was already closing down. "You slept with them after that?"

"No, I left the damn penthouse, went to my dad's place and got as drunk as I could. I went back to the penthouse the next morning, planning on telling Logan that I was moving back home. Mac showed up and I saw her anger and I was angry and there was Shelly walking out of my bedroom like she lived there."

Veronica looked at Dick and asked "I need to know, it's very, very important that you be honest. Have you had sex with Madison since before that night, since we graduated high school?"

"Madison, no." He said with a twist of his lips. "Shelly, Pam, pretty much the rest of the 09er girls, yeah."

"Dick, Mac and you have to talk." She said as calmly as she could.

"I know that, but unless it has escaped your notice, she isn't here." He snapped.

Veronica went to the door and said "I will track her down. Do me a favor, stay here in case she turns up."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac woke up and stared at Duncan Kane. "Why did you kidnap me?"

"I didn't." He said then looking at the girl on the bed. "I am afraid that my mother did."

"Why?" She asked a bit surprised when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway and when the door opened a pretty brown skinned girl carried in a tray of food and set it down near Mac. "Who are you?"

"I'm Deb. Duncan's wife." She said holding out her hand as if she really expected Mac to shake it. "Okay, so not in a friendly mood."

"What time is it?" Mac asked.

"Around ten thirty." Duncan replied then said "I promise the food isn't poisoned or drugged or anything. Dad is trying to figure out a way to fix this."

"Is that supposed to reassure me?" She asked in a mocking tone. "Your mother shot an innocent man who tried to help her and your dad and that henchman of his covered it up. Something tells me that I could be the next innocent ran over by the Kane family bulldozer."

"I won't let that happen." Duncan assured her. "I am sorry this is all my fault."

"I am sure it is." Mac replied smartly. "So, tell me just how is this or better yet, what is this. Last I knew you were a wanted felon for kidnapping and were thankfully trapped in Auckland."

"I am, or I was." Duncan replied. "My dad has been working out a deal with the FBI. I wasn't going to be able to come back to the states but I would be free. Unfortunately, my mother decided to kidnap my daughter."

"See, it starts with interfering with a police investigation, next up intimidating witnesses, and of course mutilating a corpse, moves into bribery and corruption, then a little attempted murder but that doesn't matter after all the victim is some poor wetback who she can frame, now it's kidnapping. Now you want to do something about it, because it effects you." Mac mocked.

"Really, this isn't a very attractive trait, Ms. Mackenzie." Jake Kane said as he entered the room. Mac noticed that his hair was ruffled and that he looked a bit off center.

"Sorry and here I was so trying to impress you." She mocked then shaking her head said "Wait, no that isn't true. Basically I am trying to figure out just how I am going to be screwed over by you and your family."

"Look, this isn't my dad's fault." Duncan said a bit uneasily.

Mac looked at Duncan and said "See, that is where you are wrong. Don't matter though, because I am guessing that he is about to send you from the room and threaten me."

"Dad wouldn't do that." Duncan protested but when he saw Clarence entering the room with Celeste, he went silent as he got that that was exactly what had been about to happen.

"Duncan, I think you should go." Jake said to his son, his eyes on Mac. When Duncan hesitated, Jake said "I won't let them harm Ms. Mackenzie."

"No, he won't." Mac replied with a smug grin. "See, I can tell from the scowl on Mr. Weidman's face that he knows who my fiancee is."

Duncan and his wife left and Mac sat up and looked at the trio remaining. "Yeah, you know, I just figured it out. Duncan answered the phone earlier, but it was yours, wasn't it Jake."

When Celeste started to say something, Jake glared his ex wife into submission. "What do you think you know, Ms. Mackenzie."

"Well, Celeste for some reason is obsessed with Lilly 2.0." She said. She saw Jake's tell and said "It's not hard to figure out. I do feel bad for you, for the loss of your daughter. No parent should ever lose a child."

Jake's eyes closed but not before Mac saw his pain and Mac found it hard not to emphasize with the man. "I get it, but something tells me that Duncan isn't so willing to give up on his daughter. Celeste somehow kidnapped or had your henchman there kidnap her granddaughter."

"Duncan came after his daughter, ruining your plans, Jake. My guess is that you are worried that the FBI will track your son down." She replied. "Now you need a scapegoat and I was to be the one. What were you going to say? That Veronica was somehow obsessed with Duncan or with this baby girl named after her best friend and that I arranged a kidnapping to help her."

"With the Sheriff in your pocket, you probably could have gotten away with it, at least long enough for Duncan to slip out of the country with his daughter, but then there was the fact that you didn't know who I was marrying. Lamb will go after an 02er, but someone who is engaged to Dick, he will think twice about that, won't he."

Celeste clearly wanted to attempt it anyhow but Mac decided to make damn sure she didn't have to deal with any of it. "Celeste, why don't you have your trained dog check hospital records for say, oh, when I was born then four years later. To make your night even worse. I was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair."

Mac heard Clarence grab his iPad and do just that. She saw his eyes on her then look at Jake. "She is telling the truth."

"Yup, Matt Sinclair, one of the top defense attorneys in the country, my bio daddy. So you think he would let me rot in jail to cover up your crimes, Celeste?" Mac mocked and bluffed not sure what her biological dad would do.

Jake told Clarence to leave and to take Celeste with him. "Take her to the Marin County house and if she escapes, it's on you."

When they had left, Jake looked at Mac. "You were in no danger. I couldn't touch you if I even had wanted to. Veronica and you were pretty clever a few years ago, I know that it was you that broke my code. It's why I hired you but you didn't seem to show the same brilliance once you came to work for me, at first I had my doubts."

"Oh I am smart enough but I only did what I was required. I had no intention of lining your pockets with more money to bribe people." Mac said.

Shaking his head, Jake said "It all goes back to my daughter, it probably always will."

"Oh, I think you were a jackass long before Lilly died, I just think you hid it better." Mac replied. "Secret societies like the Tritons and the Castle, sorry but to me they scream raging homosexuality or inadequacy."

"Damn it is a shame you didn't end up with the Sinclairs." Jake said sounding admiring before standing and moving to the same window his son had been staring out earlier. Leaning against it, he looked at Mac. "The girl being called Madison Sinclair, she came to me two days ago with a deal. I was going to give in to her, now, she might be out in the cold. Don't suppose you want to walk away from Casablancas..."

"No." Mac said a bit surprised to realize she meant it. "I don't know what you are offering but there is nothing you could give me that I would want. Take Madison up on her offer, whatever it is."

"Oh and we both know that Duncan and his family have already left so just how much longer do you intend to keep me here."

Jake chuckled then said "Not too much longer. I just need to be sure that my family is safe. When Duncan answered my phone, we were already tracking you down."

"How?" Mac asked. She had lifted Internet from the Kane security system before.

"Pure dumb luck." Jake said. "I was updating the code. You triggered an alarm as a result. I knew I wasn't online and you are the only person in Neptune capable of cracking my system. Duncan, well he was desperate to send out letters to Veronica and Logan. I told him no but when he heard me mention your name. He knew that the only weak spot was by the shore from when he was growing up."

Mac didn't say anything, she felt a bit weak but figured it was because she had barely eaten anything. Reaching out, she was about to grab the roll when she looked at him.

"It's safe." He said wearily. "I saw what you were looking at. You are wrong, you know. I didn't bribe Lamb. What he did, he did out of fear and without guidance from me."

Jake watched Mac eat the roll then said "Veronica thinks that I am the enemy. I am not. I don't hate her, I wish she had stayed out of the Castle business because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten her father involved."

"I think she blames you for her parent's splitting up and the hell she went through in high school." Mac replied.

"Leanne." Jake said shaking his head. "Veronica's mom and I... We were like Veronica and Duncan when they got involved again. Both of us trying to reclaim the past but it was long gone. It's difficult sometimes to admit that you are no longer that same person. I sometimes wonder if Lilly's death is my punishment for the past."

"I don't think that god harms innocents to punish others." Mac replied looking at him as she ate the second roll. Drinking the milk, gagging on the taste but knowing she needed something to drink.

"Duncan and I, we have exchanged e-mails for the last several years he finally told me the whole story." Jake said. "I wish I had known then what I know now."

"Yet you are still letting an innocent man go to jail to protect Celeste." She said.

"I told Lamb to drop the charges, he refuses to because of Veronica's involvement. He blames her for his brother's death." Jake replied.

Shocked, Mac said. "Don Lamb died at the hands of a meth junkie, how is that Veronica's fault?"

"I don't know, to be honest, I never cared." Jake replied. "Don Lamb was a convenience at a time that I needed Keith out of his job, nothing more."

Jake looked at Mac and said "Casablancas and you, odd fit."

Laughing mirthlessly, Mac said "You have no idea."

"I can see it though." Jake replied. "You will settle him down, give him something to grow up for. Like Veronica did even by leaving for the Echolls boy."

"Veronica and Logan, they are epic." Mac said quoting Veronica.

"My children created the pain they went through, like I said if I knew then what I know now." Jake replied then hearing his watch beep, checked the message and said "I will drive you home."

"Not a good idea. I will just drive myself home. Veronica will..."

"It's fine." Jake replied then said "I need to talk to her too."

Mac grimaced as she still felt light headed but let him help her stand.

"Are you okay?" He asked then worried that his wife might have done something took out his phone. "Weidman, find out if my wife did something to the Mackenzie girl's food."

There were some words exchanged but Mac didn't hear any of them as she passed out. Jake swore then looking around realized he couldn't exactly call an ambulance.

Carrying the girl to his car, he careful buckled her in and drove towards the hospital. Halfway there he had a thought and called Keith Mars.

"It's Jake Kane. I am trying to reach Veronica. Cindy Mackenzie collapsed and is on her way to the hospital." Hanging up to avoid any questions, Jake drove the rest of the route to Neptune General.

Carrying her inside, he said "She just passed out after eating two rolls. I think there is something wrong, maybe she was poisoned."

Veronica came rushing in twenty minutes later with Wallace and she saw Logan and her dad arriving. Her dad was limping and her boyfriend looked incredible but she could only hug him tightly as she said "We just got here. Dad, tell me again what Jake said."

Repeating the words, he looked around for the taller man and found him on the phone in the corner. Limping towards him, he snapped "What did you do?"

"Nothing, I ran into Ms. Mackenzie and we were talking. She was eating a couple of rolls and she just collapsed." He reported. "I realized that it would be faster to bring her here then to call an ambulance so I drove to the hospital.

Veronica was sure it was more than that but she didn't care, not right now. When a nurse came out and asked who Ms. Mackenzies' contact information was, she suddenly realized that she hadn't called Dick.

Pulling out her phone, she was about to dial his number when Wallace said "I called him, he is already on his way. What about her parents?"

"Her mom was spending the night at the rehab center with her dad. I could call Ryan but he is still in high school. I know that today was the last spring practice for football from when I talked to him earlier." Veronica said and looking at the nurse offered to fill out what she could on the forms while they were waiting for Dick.

Soon having answered all the questions she could, she saw Dick entering and rushing over. "What happened?"

"Are you Ms. Mackenzies' fiancee?" The nurse asked. Being told you, she asked him to follow her. Veronica started to trail along but the nurse refused to let her do so even when Dick said it was fine.

"Sorry but Ms. Mars is going to have to wait." The nurse said then looking at the blond woman said "Your friend is going to be fine, they simply need to speak to her contact first."

Dick entered the room to see Mac in a hospital bed, a short woman in a white doctor's coat standing next to the bed reading her chart as something was being sent through an IV tube. "Dr. Malcolm, this is Ms. Mackenzies' fiancee."

The woman looked up and saw Dick's eyes were on Mac, and said "Let's go outside."

"I would prefer to stay." Dick replied looking over at the woman. "What happened?"

"Ms. Mackenzie's blood pressure sky rocketed and she skipped several meals today."

"Why is she unconscious?" He asked.

"Ms. Mackenzie has medical issues resulting from something in her history nine years ago." The doctor replied. "It's for her own safety until we find out if she is suffering from the same condition."

Dick looked at the woman and said "Stop the doctor speak and just tell me in plain English without the evasive techniques.

"I am Ms. Mackenzie's gynecologist." The woman replied. Seeing Dick's eyes widen, she said "I am guessing that you have figured it out."

"Mac's p-pregnant?" He asked his mind reeling. He had returned her real birth control pills when he had decided he wanted a real future with her, now his temporarily exchanging them with placebos had bit him in the rear. Taking it to mean that it was fate, he stated "I want another doctor to keep an eye on her condition."

"When she wakes up that is Ms. Mackenzie's choice." She said. "I know that she blamed me at the time for the failure of the procedure but I warned her at the time, there was no guarantee that it would work. That she could lose the baby anyhow."

Dick stared at the woman confused, he wanted someone there to keep Mac from having another abortion. "What are you talking about? Why would she blame you for that? It was her choice."

"Yes, but when women suffer a miscarriage, especially after everything she went through that day, its often hard to believe that some things just aren't meant to be." She replied.

Dick looked at the woman, shocked to realize that she thought Mac had a miscarriage when it was an abortion. Taking a second look, Dick realized that her hair was shorter but that this was the same woman he had seen in the hospital corridor ten years ago.

"I warned her at the time, that when the time came to try again, when she was ready to have children, to come speak to me. I am rather surprised she just went off her pills without talking to me." She said with shake of her head. "We spoke that day about the chances of the Etopic pregnancy happening again especially with how erratic her period is."

Dick felt a tingling, a sense of confusion, of believing that the sky is blue only to learn it was really green as he stared at the woman. Listening to the doctor speaking, telling him how they were waiting for test results and how medical advances in the last few years made the procedure much less risky, he felt sick to his stomach as he looked at Mac.

Making the call to Dr. Jackson, he went to see Veronica. Noticing everyone looking his way, including Jake Kane, he said "Ronnie, come with me."

In the chapel, the only room without people in it, he sat down and said "Nine years ago, I stopped over to see Mac while her parents were gone. Ryan let me in, then left to go over to his friend's house. He said Mac should be home soon."

Veronica let him talk, she had seen the look on his face and knew something dreadful had happened.

"I was snooping around Mac's room, you know, she was so closed up, it was like getting a secret peek into her life. Anyhow, I saw this glass figurine and lifted it to look at it and knocked another one into the trash. I fished it out and then realized what I had seen in the trash can."

"It was a pee stick and it was positive." He said sounding almost wistful to Veronica's ears. "I uh, I had been planning on telling Mac how I felt about it. I uh, I sort went a little nutso. I mean, over the ledge into happy town nutso."

Veronica saw his face, and how he seemed almost unaware of his surroundings as he continued. "I was on my way back to her house, sort of cursing myself out for not telling her I was there and then leaving. Basically just all over the place when I saw Mac's car at the hospital."

Swallowing, Dick said "I came into the admissions and was told that Mac was on nine. I went up there and was unable to get any information at first. Then I saw Ashley Banks. I asked her to find out where Mac was. She was a volunteer because her brother worked here and her parents forced her to be a candy striper."

"What did she tell you, Dick?" Veronica asked.

"Just that Mac was here, that she was in a room but that she couldn't find out because she was only a candy striper then suggested that I wait in the smaller wait room. That I would be able to find out more from the doctor's staff."

Dick felt sick to his stomach as he said "I waited for about two hours, no one would tell me anything. I heard a nurse come rushing in and telling the woman behind the desk to call Dr. Malcolm stat. I figured everything was busy, I would locate Mac. I knew she was still here because her name was on the board I could barely see."

Dick went quiet for a few minutes then said "I walked down the hall and saw Mac was lying in a hospital bed. Next thing I knew, the staff was rushing a hugely pregnant woman past me and that there was this man looking torn between puking and swearing off sex as his wife shouted at him."

"It got quiet and then I heard a nurse talking to the same doctor. She asked about the Mackenzie girl and if she was recovered enough from her D&C to release her." Dick said. "I heard the doctor telling her that Mac wasn't emotionally ready to go home yet."

"I went to enter the room, wanting to know what was going on when I heard them calling for the doctor. It was that pregnant woman from before and she was screaming and I was about ready to pass out from the sound." Dick admitted. "So I went to grab a soda and I saw Ashley talking to some dude in those scrub things. I asked him when they separated what a D&C was."

"What did he tell you?" Veronica asked almost sure what the answer was going to be and beginning to feel sick at how things had happened.

"He said that it meant a pregnant woman had an abortion." Dick replied then looking at Veronica, wiped the tears and said "It's not what it is, is it?"

Not hiding anything, Veronica said "Mac had what they call an etopic pregnancy. It means that the sperm fertilized the egg in the fallopian tubes, before it reached the cervix. Another way to look at it, your sperm was apparently extra ambitious, because most die before they reach the cervix."

"Okay."

Veronica knew he didn't get it, so she said "The fetus began to grow in the tubes, Dick. That isn't a good thing, it can kill the mother."

She saw him turn white and reached out to steady him. "There is a procedure that Mac had. It had a less than twenty-five percent chance at success but that was better than no chance to carry to term that she had otherwise so Mac had it done."

"Mac was immobilized for a few hours, my guess is that is when you were calling her. She wasn't allowed to move at all." Veronica said. "She was halfway to the potential safe zone to move, but it was going to be touch and go for a few months. She started cramping and lost the baby."

Veronica felt the tight grip on her hand get even tighter as she heard Dick whimper before she continued "They also perform D&C's after a miscarriage Dick."

"Mac didn't kill our baby because I was the father, did she?" He asked rhetorically and almost fatalistically.

"No." Veronica replied and she saw Dick trying to breathe, trying to find the words to say something but it was as if his very breath was being sucked out of him as he turned whiter than before. "Dick, lower your head between your legs."

Trying to get him to calm down, nothing was working so she rushed to the door and called out for help. Logan came from where he had been stalking nearby and a nurse and orderly rushed in. "What happened?"

The nurse ordered a wheelchair and they took Dick to a room, she was calling for a doctor when Logan reached out and pulled a distraught Veronica into his arms. "What happened? Is Mac okay?"

Veronica nodded yes then buried her head into his shoulder and spilled what she knew leaving out Dick's secrets. Logan felt sick as he began to put the pieces together. "Why is Mac in the hospital now?"

"I don't know. Dick didn't get a chance to tell me yet." She said then looking at him said "The thing is, I know she is on birth control yet I think she is pregnant."

"She was on it when they got pregnant before." He pointed out.

Veronica said "I need to find out from someone what to do for Mac."

In the hallway, Veronica saw that Wallace was on the phone and that Jake Kane was speaking to a nurse. Looking for her dad she saw him in the corner on a cell phone. "Dad?"

"I just spoke to Mac's doctor, she checked on Dick and said that he was sedated. Mac's pregnant." He said bluntly. "Veronica, what is going on here?"

Jake walked over and said he was heading out and quickly left the building. He was on his way home when he did a U-turn and took the road that would send him closer to the center of Neptune. It was three in the morning but he really didn't want to go home that night.

His son and his family were safely out of the country, his wife was restrained and his plans were now on hold. Getting a suite at the Grand, he went up to it, sat down and looked at his shaking hands.

He had been relieved when the nurse had told him that Ms. Mackenzie's medical issues were not the result of anything his wife had done but that she was pregnant.

Until he had realized getting knock unconscious probably hadn't done her any good. That he had almost cost another parent their child was something he was finding hard to deal with.

Taking out his phone, he was about to send Ms. Sinclair a text letting her know that he didn't intend to follow through on his plan, instead he contacted the clinic and asked for all samples to be destroyed.

Hanging up, he called Clarance and said "The Mackenzie girl is pregnant. Let my wife go, if she hangs she hangs"

"Celeste isn't going to like that." He warned.

"Don't help her." Jake replied. "She does what she does, she is on her own. I am done. Duncan is safe and we have dealt with her helper. Lilly is back home where she belongs."

"Ms. Mackenzie could press charges, then what?" Clarance asked.

"If she does, she does." Jake replied. "I am not going to order an attack on a pregnant woman. I won't sink that low."

"Celeste-."

"You work for me, Clarence. Don't forget that." Jake warned. He knew that Clarence had done some side jobs for his ex-wife, including he was almost certain the death of Aaron Echolls. He had looked the other way most of the time, but Jake couldn't, wouldn't allow this to go any farther.

"What about Lamb?"

"Let him sink on his own. Mars won't be back and that is all I ever promised Celeste." Jake replied. "Besides, I really want you to consider protecting my grandchildren."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Mac was stunned as she listened to her doctor speaking. "I am still talking my birth control pills. How can I be pregnant?"

"I am not sure." She was told as her gynecologist gave her the rest of the situation. "Physically you are fine; you are just going to be more careful about eating regularly."

"The baby is where it's supposed to be?" Mac asked holding her breath.

"Yes." She was told. "I am going to bring in the equipment to have a sonogram done for you in a little while. Right now, you should know that your fiancée was admitted to the ER after suffering a panic attack."

Mac silently laughed, sure that that meant he would finally put an end to this mess, after all Dick was little more than a child himself most of the time, there was no chance he would want to be a father. Yet part of her, the part that had almost forgotten that the romance of the last month hadn't been real, wanted him to be a family with them.

"I am going to admit you overnight at least." She was told. "Would you like me to place a no visitors order on your room?"

Mac debated whether any of the people in her life would even listen to the order and said "No, its fine. Most of the people in my life aren't so good at obeying orders anyhow. Do you know how I ended up at the hospital?"

"I believe that Jake Kane brought you in. I don't know the circumstances but I think that the nurse said he was speaking to you when you collapsed. Should I order some tests, are you having memory issues?"

"No, I remember speaking to Jake." Mac admitted then knowing that by now, Jake had covered his tracks, just asked if her parents had been called.

"I believe that your fiancée was put in charge of your medical issues. That you have a POA naming him." She was told.

"I do, I just didn't want to bother my family when I will be fine." Mac replied as she asked who was outside knowing she needed to get the thumb drive to someone who could deal with it but she didn't want to endanger her baby.

"Former Sheriff Mars, a dark skinned guy wearing a tie, someone in a military uniform and a blond girl who went down with your fiancée to the ER." She was told.

"Would you please ask Sheriff Mars to come in?" Mac asked.

When Keith had entered, she said "I have a thumb drive in my jeans pocket over there. You should read the files on it."

Keith went directly to the jeans in the plastic bag and asked "How did you end up with Jake Kane?"

"Doesn't matter, by now they have covered her tracks." Mac said in a tired tone. "What is on that is more important. From something Jake told me earlier, I have pieced quite a bit of it together. Nothing we can use to get Lamb to drop the charges against Weevil but Jake did mention something strange."

Seeing Keith was waiting for her to finish, Mac said "He told me that Dan Lamb blames Veronica for his brother's death. That he tried to push Lamb to drop the charges against Weevil but that since Veronica was involved he wouldn't."

"Don was taking down a meth dealer. Veronica had nothing to do with it." Keith replied. "Still it does add another layer to this mess."

"Yes, but you should know Jake claims that he never ordered anyone to cover for his wife." Mac said her eyes drooping as she grew tired.

"Mac is there anything you need? For you, not for the case, not for my daughter." He asked softly.

"No. Don't worry, Mr. Mars. I will be fine, I always am." She said in a somber tone. Seeing him looking at her with a probing expression on his face, she tried for a smile, knowing that he could read how weak she was feeling on her face.

"Hey." Veronica had opened the door and entered. Her dad left but before he did, he looked at his daughter and told her to tell Mac what she had told him.

Mac didn't want to know.

"Just let me tell you, please?" Veronica said sitting down on the hospital chair. Telling Mac about Madison, about Parker and Piz, she said "So you see, it was entirely my fault."

Mac just closed her eyes; she didn't even care, not any more. She just had too much to worry about now, that the past was going to have to stay there.

"Can you forgive me?" Veronica asked holding her breath.

Mac opened her eyes and looked at Veronica. This time her smile was a bit more real as she said "Veronica, you aren't responsible for how Piz or Parker reacted. For Dick being a creep, for Logan not taking the time to actually find out from me what was going on. All of that is on them, not you."

Logan who was outside, waiting to speak to Mac had to admit that she was right, he had screwed up and he knew that Mac would forgive him, she was too good of a person not to, but at the same time, he knew that the trust that they had had that summer was long gone.

Walking downstairs to where Veronica said Dick was, he found his friend staring at the hospital ceiling, clearly destroyed. "Want to talk about it?"

Scoffing, Dick looked at Logan and said "No."

Resting his head on the pillow, Dick went back to staring at the ceiling. He found that his heart was heavy as he slowly let go of the dreams that had never really gone away.

Closing them in a small box labeled to never be opened again, he willed his heart to accept that this time there would be heart break. Real heartbreak that he had to face or he would be no better than his own dad. He had a child on the way; one that he would have to watch grow up from a distance because he was well aware that Mac would never let him near them when she learned the truth. It wouldn't matter to her that he had done the right thing after that first night they had slept together, all she was going to hear was that he had messed with her birth control pills.

He had for a few minutes considered staying quiet, just pretending that her being pregnant was an accident but he knew that having perfection and then getting it ripped away would hurt worse and ruin things worse than telling the truth now.

"You know, being a dad, it might be good, Dick." Logan said awkwardly as he tried to make Dick realize that Mac being pregnant wasn't the end of the world.

Lifting his head, Dick looked at Logan and said "Go away."

"No, look, you already admitted you love Mac. You asked her to marry you, which must mean that you want a future with her. I heard them saying you were her fiancée, what did you expect. To never have children."

Dick looked at Logan and told him about the blackmail "I blackmailed her with her dad's condition to get her to marry me, Logan. I did it because I was going to get her pregnant and then take my child away from her. I had her sign papers that if she was pregnant she either walked away from our kid or agreed to stay married to me until said child was eighteen."

"Oh and to make matters worse, I lied to her. He said with a mirthless laugh. "Oh, and substituted placebos for her birth control pills for a few days, I fixed that, put the real ones in the cabinet again, but I still slept with her when she wasn't protected. All because I thought she had an abortion back in college because the baby was mine not Beavers. Yeah, we are going to be Ozzie and Harriet, Logan."

Logan stared at Dick, trying to adjust his thoughts as he realized Dick wasn't upset about the baby, but that clearly something else was going on and from the guilty expression on Veronica's face she not only knew what it was but blamed herself.

"Yeah, thought that would shut you up, dude." Dick said with smug look on his face that faded rather quickly.

"Did my having that pity party at the penthouse then leaving have anything to do with this?" He asked.

Dick lifted his head off the pillow then with a bitter chuckle admitted "I am not sure. I think that Mac and I might have been more honest and I might not have been high that night when she showed up but I would have been drunk and angry so who knows. The only part you are responsible for is inviting those people; we both know that they give a damn about nothing but themselves."

"Us too." Logan said sadly. "I uh, when Mac avoided me, I thought that it was for the best, you know. I figured she blamed me for Veronica and that was fine because I didn't need her anyway."

"She poured you into bed night after night, asshole." Dick said in a hard tone that Logan hadn't known Dick could use. "Hell even after I hated her for what I thought she did, I loved her for that."

Logan looked at him and said "I know."

"Man, I get it." Dick said with a heavy sigh. "I went down a dark path after that. That I managed to graduate was a miracle or maybe not because it at least allowed me to see her so I did just enough to stay in school."

"Wallace and I argued a few times about Veronica. He said that Mac felt the same way and I just took what Parker told me as affirmation of it."

"You took your stalker's words for the truth, man." Dick said. "About a lot of shit, including Veronica and Piz. Just think by now, you two could have been married and having kids and crap of your own."

"No, we both needed the time apart." Logan admitted. "I needed to hit bottom and she needed to get away. To relearn who she was. Veronica was a mess and I helped create that."

"I think we all did and what happened with Beaver was the worst of it." Dick admitted.

"No."

Looking at Veronica, Logan asked "How long have you been there?"

"I heard Dick telling you about your stalker." She said then with a drained expression admitted "I did some research when I heard what was going on with Parker and Piz. At least you only listened to your stalker; I apparently got back together with mine."

"What do you mean?" Dick asked.

"Did some research, talked to some people, you know the detective thing." Veronica said with a sad laugh. "Anyhow, it turns out that Piz and Parker have been keeping a close eye on the two of us for years. Parker let the idea of you go when you left for the Navy. Turns out she was keen on you as a husband but not one that was in the Navy."

"I remember she came to see me when she heard I joined." Logan said. "I thought it was strange at the time, but just let it go, I had more important things to worry about."

"Yeah, well I won't show you a picture of her husband; it might be a bit disturbing." Veronica said shaking her head. "I don't know if her husband is the father of her children or not, but that is their mess. Mine was dealt with during a call today with Piz."

"Is that when he admitted stalking you?" Dick asked kind of glad the attention was off him for the moment.

"No, that is when he tried to convince me that none of it was true and that Wallace was lying to me. I just told Wallace and he was pissed. Either way, I think that Piz might have gotten the hint that I will destroy him if he interferes in my life again. Right now, I am more interested in Jake Kane being the one to bring Mac to the hospital."

Logan looked at her and said "What did Mac tell you?"

Nothing, she just said that by now 'they' have covered their tracks." She replied. "Wallace called; he drove by Jake's office. Mac's car is in the parking lot."

"Funny, considering that I checked that lot when we were looking for her earlier." Dick said.

"Not only that but his jet took off to Marin County minutes before he called 911 regarding Mac." Veronica stated. Seeing Logan's eyes on her, she said "Two passengers according to my contact. They saw Celeste and Clarence."

Dick saw the entering nurse and looked up to inquire when he got to leave.

"You are free to leave. Your blood pressure has lowered quite a bit but you might need to see your regular physician soon, just to have a check up." He was told as the nurse reminded him to come to the hub and signed his release papers.

"I'm fine." He replied. Standing, he held out his arm for her to cut off the bracelet on it, then looking at Logan and Veronica said. "I have to go speak to Mac."

"Dick-."

"No, Veronica." Logan said interrupting her. "He is right. He needs to be the one to do this and it might be better here. That way if something happens, she has a doctor."

Seeing Dick turn white, Veronica looked at Logan and said "Would you please stop scaring him. Dick, I think that if you start with your visit to her house and what you found then what happened here at the hospital it would be best."

"Why?" He asked.

"Just trust me." She said shaking her head at the words. "Go, now before I change my mind and give into my second thoughts that involve kicking your ass for the games now."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac lay back on her pillow, her mind trying to wrap around the news she was pregnant. Hearing a soft gasp, she looked up to see Dick standing there, looking like crap. "I heard you had a panic attack."

"We need to talk." He stated ignoring her comment. "Not only about what happens now, but I think we need to talk about the past."

"We both know what happens now, you do what you do best and run away from all responsibility and I get my freedom back." Mac replied in a tart tone.

Dick was fearful for a second, his mind had her having the abortion she hadn't nine years ago but then he realized that Mac didn't know about the past, she didn't know what he had done in his desperation to keep her in his life. "Before you do that, I need to tell you something."

Grabbing the chair and moving it closer to her bed, he gathered his thoughts and found the inner strength to tell her. "When we were seeing each other, dating, whatever you want to call it that summer, I was in love with you."

No you weren't." Mac refuted his words.

"Yes I was and please, just listen for a bit." Dick stated. "This is going to be hard enough to get through."

Mac went silent, determined to wait him out, knowing that freedom was hours away.

"I missed you the day things went to hell. I uh, stopped over at your parent's house; your brother was there and said that he was sure you would be back soon." Dick replied. "He was going with a friend or something and I was in your room, waiting for you."

"You were where?" Mac was now pissed. Ryan knew better than to let anyone in her room.

"I was looking around; it was as if I had been given a key to your brain." He admitted. "There were these figurines, I lifted one, and it didn't seem to fit with my perception of you so I wanted to take a closer look, but I dropped one. It fell into the trash and when I went to pick it up, I saw the pregnancy stick."

"You knew I was pregnant and still slept with Madison?" She asked feeling like he had staked her in the heart yet again.

"Listen, please?" Dick asked. "Anyhow, I ran a few errands."

He wasn't going to tell her about the ring or his giddiness but then seeing her closing down, admitted "I wasn't upset about the baby Mac. Upset about possibly ruining your life, yeah, the baby no."

She wanted to deny what he was saying but she could see it in his eyes that he was telling the truth yet clearly he had slept with Madison and Shelly, she had seen him with her own eyes.

"I saw your car in the hospital parking lot as I was driving across town; I located you on the ninth floor." Dick told her. "I tried to get to see you, but it was crazy busy and no one would tell me anything. Ashley Banks worked as a volunteer and she suggested that I move to the small waiting room closer to where you were that I would be more likely to get to speak to you in there."

"I waited a few hours and then decided to find you for myself." Dick said his eyes on her to watch how she reacted to his words. "There was a pregnant woman in distress I think. Her husband was a wreck and your doctor was taking care of her. I saw you, in a small room, lights out and lying in a bed. I was about to enter when I had to duck out of sight because I had seen the sign about no one on that floor without a badge and two people in scrubs were talking."

"I heard a nurse asking the lady doctor about releasing you. She said you were to be kept, that you had to get stronger emotionally after the D&C." Dick recited the words; he saw her confusion as she clearly didn't understand how this had anything to do with what she had seen.

"I saw you had fallen asleep so I went to get a soda after hearing the woman giving birth screaming in pain. I saw that guy in scrubs that Ashley knew and asked him if he knew what a D&C was. He told me that it was an abortion." Dick's words faded off as he said the last word.

Mac looked at him, saw his face and felt sick as she got that he had believed she would kill her child. "Dick, if I wouldn't eat meat; why the hell would you EVER think that I would do something like that?"

Looking down at his hands, he closed his eyes to contain the tears he knew he didn't have the right to cry and admitted "I thought that I was a substitute for Beaver. That you had regretted being pregnant with my child because you wanted the baby to be his."

Her jaw dropped as Mac stared at Dick. "Why? What the hell were you thinking?"

"At the time, I just had to get away, I ached, I finally understood why they called someone heart broken. I felt like my heart had been severed in two. I went back to the hotel, wanting to talk to Logan, needing him to talk me down from the ledge."

Dick stopped speaking for a moment then filled her in on what he had walked into. "I didn't have it in me, not at that moment to get them to leave. I wanted to curl up into a ball and die. Luke was with Pam in my bed, Logan's door was locked and god knows what was going on in there since he wasn't even at the penthouse. I went to the balcony, pulled out the spare blanket and pillow we stored in the box out there and just wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, trying to piece together my heart."

Mac started to make a sarcastic comment about Madison helping with that when he began to speak again. As he filled her in on what had happened, she felt sick again as he admitted to taking the pills. "I had this dream of Beaver, was sitting on the balcony, imagining that you wished it had been me and not him who had jumped. Then I woke up at the sound of laughter and saw Madison and Shelly going at it on the chaise lounge."

"I don't want to hear this." Mac quickly interrupted.

"Tough because you need to." Dick retorted then with a heavy sigh he told her the rest. "I taped them, I didn't join them. I wanted to humiliate Madison. At one point, I made a stupid comment and they realized I was there. That is when I stood planning on leaving but before I could, Shelly had moved to where I was standing and then you walked onto the balcony and the look of disgust in your eyes burnt at my soul considering that I thought you had killed a baby to escape a connection with me."

Mac heard the words that he had uttered that night and looking at Dick cried out "Why didn't you just ask me what was going on. Do you realize what that night did to me? You destroyed me."

"I wanted to destroy you. I was fucking dying inside and I blamed you." Dick answered; she heard both his pain and his anger and wanted to scream at him. "The pain filled expression on your face was like a drug to me. I wanted to hurt you; it made the pain hurt less when you were upset. I left that night, I wanted to ask you why but I couldn't bring myself to go see you. Then when you came back to the penthouse the next morning, you were acting like I was in the wrong. I know now that I was but at the time, I hated you for what I thought you did."

Mac got that, the fight went out of her as she lay back onto the hospital bed and stared at Dick. "I went through hell that day and I needed you but I couldn't even sit up to call you. Then when I went to see you, needing you to just tell me I wasn't at fault, you tore me to shreds and let those bitches do the same thing."

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I know that the words are inadequate, that nothing will make up for my mistakes." Dick said quietly. "It's all I have though. Those oh so terribly trite and inadequate words are all that is left."

Mac looked at him and said "So what was helping my dad about? Did you learn the truth and decide...?"

Staring at him, she gasped as she began to put the pieces together. "No, that wasn't it. You wanted revenge for what you thought I did, didn't you?"

With a slight nod, Dick told her "I heard Veronica on the phone; I knew that you were in desperate straits to save your dad."

"What was the plan? I mean marriage and what make me miserable?" Mac asked trying to figure out what had been going on in Dick's head.

Dick found it hard to breathe as he admitted "I wanted to take away what I thought you took away from me."

Mac's brow wrinkled and then the pre nup came to her mind. "But that makes no sense. You were the one who came up with the conditions of the Pre-nup. I mean, if there was a baby, we would have to stay together until the child was eighteen. How was that to be a punishment, I mean unless you intended to sleep with anything that moved?"

"No!" Dick burst out the single word then looking down at his hands continued "I meant to get you pregnant and then take custody using my money then leave Neptune. I didn't think you would care, I mean you hated me, so I figured you wouldn't want the child but I did. I wanted our baby. I just let things get out of hand because one part of me wanted to still hate you but I also hated me for still loving you after what I thought you had done."

Mac's analytical mind was putting pieces together and she had a thought. "My birth control pills, what did you do to them?"

"Placebos. I fixed it when we started to sleep together but not that first night." He admitted. "I was so sure that when you found out you were pregnant you would walk away and I would still have a part of us, that I could stay emotionally detached from you. Then that night, we were so angry; both of us were but then we just, it was different, it has been different. I realized that night, that all of this, the lies, the games, the set up was because I wanted you back in my life, whatever it took."

Mac tried to find the words to tell him what she was feeling, the anger, the resentment and a small part of her admitted the love that had long been buried under heart aching pain and bitterness but all she could think was that he had intended to steal their child.

"Dick, I won't let you take this baby away from me." She warned, her heart starting to beat faster in fear even as her hands protectively cupped her still flat stomach.

"Mac, have you listened to a single thing I have said. Don't you get it. I was wrong and I know that I was wrong. I would never, take our child away." He said his eyes staring into hers. "I think that I lied to myself, why else would I have the pre-nup drawn up the way I did why else would I have done half the stupid crap I have done."

Dick knew he needed to get it all out, so he filled her in on his last confession. "I just wanted you, wanted you back and even just the superficial acting like we were together thrilled me because I got to be near you. Then that day we went to eat at the Mexican restaurant..."

"The night I was so angry at you." Mac said in an icy tone of voice. "The night I forgot who I thought you were and threw myself at you."

Dick said unable to look at her. "You were drunk, Mac. I put you to bed, nothing more at first. I thought that if you felt you were over the past we could fix things so I faked it. I threw your clothes around the room and then went to remove your bra and panties while you were asleep."

Mac was repulsed at his undressing her that way while she was unconscious but his words had her recalling more about that night and she flushed as she said "Oh god, I, I took my bra off myself."

"Yes, you did." Dick replied with a slight lilt to his voice in spite of knowing his life was pretty much over.

Mac recalled his thanking her with a straight face then her asking him to remove her panties, Dick pressing a kiss to her thigh as he tugged at the silk and lace and his regretful expression as he had risen and tossed them aside before telling her to go to sleep that she was drunk.

Thinking on what had happened that morning, her anger at her loss of control when it came to Dick, her shame at knowing she had wanted to sleep with him after vowing to never be in the same room with him again. Mac softly said "I am sorry for what I did that morning. For threatening you."

"Now that I know the truth, I can't believe your restraint in not using it." Dick said "I just wanted to tell you the truth. I am going to head out. Go home."

"I guess I should get some sleep. See you in the morning, Dick." Mac said watching him stand to leave knowing they needed the distance that the night would give him to deal with the news.

When he stood in the doorway, lingering for a few minutes like he had wanted to say something else, Mac opened her mouth but couldn't find the words and he left, leaving her alone in a room; the only sound she heard was the machine monitoring her heart.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven 

Dick wrote the note, tucked it into an envelope and went to find Veronica. Knocking on the door, seeing the lights coming on and a half asleep Veronica in the doorway, he said "Would you give this to Mac when you pick her up tomorrow?"

"Oh I was so hoping it would go better than this for the two of you, Dick." The blond hated hearing the pity in Veronica's voice when she took the sealed envelope. "It didn't go well when you told her the truth?"

"No, I mean she didn't kill me, so I guess it went well enough." Dick replied looking down at the hardwood floor knowing he couldn't deal with the pity. "Look, just take care of her, for me. Okay? If she needs anything..."

"Where are you going?" Logan asked as he came up beside Veronica. He could see the duffel bag down the hallway next to Dick's still open door. "Stay man, fight for her, and your baby."

With a sad smile, Dick said "Doing that would be selfish. Mac doesn't want me in her life, she never really did. I am still me; I am still the same guy I was in school, making the same mistakes. This baby, our baby is already stuck with my genes, if I want him to have a chance, I can't be there. I would fuck him up as badly as I am. Just..."

Veronica saw him swallow and then look at Logan. "Surfing, and sailing, I am sure that Mac will take care of the video games and stuff besides the Mom stuff and Ronnie will make sure that he is safe and shit. Heck, she will probably keep him or I guess her safer than the Secret Service protects the President man."

"Dick, this is a mistake." Veronica said softly. "Don't run."

"But that is what I do best, Veronica." He said looking at her. "Make mistakes and then run from the consequences."

Veronica was seriously contemplating tazering him to get him to stay but she saw that he truly believed he was doing the best thing. Watching as he walked back down the hallway hefted the bag and then walked towards the garage without looking back.

"Go with him." She ordered Logan.

Shaking his head no, he said "I can't and even if I was free to do so, this has to be something he does on his own."

"I know that but what if he gets so drunk that something happens and he isn't able to come back." She said biting her lower lip as she realized it was trembling. Hearing a car starting and then the garage door closing, she said "How do I tell Mac?"

Going back into the bedroom, changing out of Logan's sweats and into street clothes, she took the note and said "I am going to see Mac."

Not stopping her, knowing she would get past hospital security, Logan went to Dick's room and looked around. There wasn't much missing, in fact it was as organized as it ever was. Going to the closet, finding the box labeled Beaver, he opened it and groaned when he saw that the photos he had seen Dick pack and unpack over the years were missing.

Beaver and Mac on graduation day. Mac in her gown and Beaver hugging her. Logan had long avoided looking at the photo, knowing that by that point Beaver had already been a murderer and a rapist. Now that he knew the story he began to get why it was such a talisman for his friend.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac woke up to see Veronica sitting at her bedside with an awful look on her face. "What is it?"

"Dick asked me to give this to you." She said handing Mac the note.

Mac sat up, turned on the light and read the two page note. Closing her eyes, she felt a rush of emotions, torn between plotting a homicide and shaking him silly. Opening them, she looked at Veronica and said "I know you bugged his car, where did he go?"

"Mac, maybe this is for the best." She said pointing to the note.

"Veronica, I might not have your mad skills but I am quite capable of tracking him down on my own, so if you don't want your godchild born on some beach after I track down his or her father, I suggest you answer me." Mac snapped so angry with herself, she had let him leave the night before, sure that they would be able to talk this morning, clear the air once she had absorbed all of the information he had given her.

Veronica looked at her and said "What are you going to do when you track him down?"

"First I intend to yell at him, then maybe taser him for a good five minutes. Then I... never mind, just locate him before I put him on the FBI and Homeland Security most wanted lists." She said with a scowl on her face.

"I promised Logan..."

"Veronica, please locate Dick. NOW!" Mac snapped. "By this time tomorrow, I want to know where he is and we both know that you are capable of finding out."

When the blond had left, Mac reread the note and tried to regain control of her anger so that she wasn't affecting her baby. When her doctor arrived to let her go home, she asked for the sonogram pictures the woman had taken, left the hospital and went to track down Logan Echolls.

She had thanked Veronica for the ride home from the hospital and then had promised to spend the day taking it easy. Mac's idea of taking it easy was dealing with the idiots in her life. Finding out that Logan was on base, she eventually had him tracked down and found herself in a small room beside a control tower watching as jets flew in and out of the area.

"Mac?" Turning to see Logan entering wearing a flight suit and carrying some sort of notebook had Mac staring, still trying to reconcile this grown up with the boy she had spent almost two months pouring drunk into his bed.

"Where would he go?" She asked getting straight down to business.

"Let him be, for now. He is dealing with a lot." Logan warned.

"Logan, take this in the manner it is intended." Mac replied then moving in closer so that she was whispering "Stay the hell out of my way. Your stupid pity party at Christmas freshman year cost you Veronica, then your one that summer cost me more than you will ever know. I get that you didn't cause this mess between Dick and me but you didn't help matters either."

"Mac, Dick regrets..." Logan saw only her anger and was scared for both of them. Dick, because Logan knew how deeply his feelings for Mac were and he was scared for Mac because she seemed to be on edge of losing it.

"Echolls, flight check in ten."

Mac looked at the man entering the room and then at Logan. Leaning in again, she said "No matter how much Dick regrets the past, if he doesn't get his ass home, he is going to find out that regrets are the least of his worries. Now if you will excuse me, I have a fiancée to locate, apparently a wedding to organize from what my future mother in law said this morning and no one to help me do any of it."

With that, she left the base and a confused Logan behind. At least until he was in his cockpit about to double check instruments. His sudden and loud laughter had his RIO staring at him. "Should I call in Psych?"

"No, just getting what a friend of mine meant by something she told me earlier today. Hey, Schwartz, you are married. Ever find yourself at cross purposes with your wife, expecting her to murder you and instead get a kiss."

"Nope, usually in my case, she really wants to smother me with a pillow." His RIO answered ruefully. "Wait, I thought your girlfriend was the hottie with the long blond hair. Where did the girl with the short pixie haircut come into the picture?"

"Veronica is my girlfriend and junior year of high school for Mac. She isn't mine she is engaged to my best friend."

"The rich surfer with all of the connections?" Schwartz asked. Frowning after a second, he said "They just don't fit with how you have described him."

"Long story involving more of that twisted past I told you about. Let's just say that if you knew it, you would know that they fit perfectly. He just sort of pulled something that pissed her off and she is out for blood at least that is what he thinks."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Wallace called Veronica and said "I just had a visit from Mac. If you know where he is, tell her before I end up on my knees begging you."

Veronica chuckled and said "Logan, Weevil and Jade, my dad and even both of her parents came to see me already. Her dad on a day pass from his therapist, Hell, Dick's mother called me from her jet; she is flying in and begged me to tell Mac. What no one seems to realize is that I really don't know where he is."

"Well tell her where he was last." Wallace suggested. "Veronica, Mac scared me when she yelled at me today."

Veronica sighed then said "I told her already but she thinks that I know where he is now."

"Where was he?"

"His car is at the Neptune Grand." Veronica said softly.

Swearing, Wallace asked "Did you check the penthouse suite?"

Yes, he isn't there and he didn't check in. He isn't on the roof either." Veronica admitted. "I think he dumped his car there to hide."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac however was steam rolling anyone who got in her way as she questioned Ryan about the past, then getting confirmation, felt sick at the realization that she should have called Dick on her way to the hospital nine years ago.

She now had a few minutes to breathe and was listening to the messages from people she had sent straight to voice mail while looking for Dick. Hearing the one from Dr. Malcolm, she looked at the folder and decided that while she was in this very angry mood, she would get what she needed.

Driving across town, she rang a doorbell on a house she had been to twice in her life and when the door opened, she looked at the man standing in the doorway and asked if his wife was home. He seemed frozen, unable to move so she pushed past him and entered the foyer.

Seeing the wife exiting a room down the long hallway and asking her husband who was at the door, she said "I need some medical information from the two of you."

"Cindy?"

Mac heard the soft need in the woman's tone and found her heart softening at first then some part of her realized that if she had been in their shoes, there was no way she could walk away from her child, she hardened it and said "I have to have some medical background information for my doctor. Please fill out these forms and get them back to me promptly."

"What are you doing in my house? Why are you bothering my parents?" Mac heard that voice and she had to stay calm worried about her blood pressure and her baby.

Mac turned to look at Madison and gave her a slowly growing grin. "Relax, Madison. I just came to get my biological parents to fill out a medical background form for me. You know, with your biological father's medical issues, it would be prudent for you to do the same or did you get the information from your contact at the hospital when you had your friend moved ahead of your own biological father on the transplant list?"

"Cindy?" Mac heard the different tone and looked at her other mother.

"Yes, to the unasked question. Madison is so completely your child, she was going to let her biological father die. Now, if you don't wish to fill out that form, please hand it back to me. I can tell my obstetrician that my biological parents are unknown."

"You're pregnant?" Her Mom's eyes were watering as she looked at Mac's still flat stomach. "You are having a baby?"

"Who was stupid enough to get you pregnant?" Madison sneered unaware that her father was staring at her with shock in his eyes.

"My fiancée." Mac said.

Scoffing, Madison said "Yeah, I heard about that, only Dick would be stupid enough to..."

"You're marrying Richard?"

Mac looked at her biological father not liking the disgusted tone in his voice. "Yes. I am."

Looking at Ellen Sinclair, Mac said "I enclosed a self addressed and stamped envelope, please make sure that Madison doesn't get a hold of it, I would prefer that my child not be harmed by her maliciously altering the data you provide me."

With that Mac moved around the man standing in the doorway, past Madison who was sneering at her and left the house. Hearing her name being called, she kept moving but when a hand reached her shoulder, she said "Oh, I forgot to say thank you. Thank you."

"Cindy, please come back inside." Mac was looking at the man who was her biological father and chuckled as she realized she didn't even know his first name.

"No. Look, I am sure that you two are perfectly nice people, but my parents are the couple who raised me. Who stayed in my life, who accepted me, who was there for me when I needed them most. I almost pity Madison, because if her behavior is any indication, she got the short end of the stick. I mean, my god, you helped a man steal the liver he needed, you were going to let her biological father die, my father die."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Mac heard the man she resembled saying.

"I don't believe you." With that, Mac went to leave. She had opened her car door and was about to get in when she heard him speaking. "You are right, you know. We are the reason Madison is the way she is. We just didn't love her enough. Oh, we tried, but Ellen and I, we never got over learning the truth."

Mac looked at him and said "Then I really do pity Madison. My parents love me with their whole hearts. I know that they have thought of Madison, that they worry about her but it never made a difference in how they treated me. How they supported me, even when I probably didn't deserve their love."

"I have tried, but Madison was a difficult child, even before we learned the truth. She hit other children in the nursery, so we tried to show her patience, she would destroy things for no reason and we would replace them and tell her she was wrong. When your mother heard about your first boyfriend, we reached out to you but the therapist you were going to suggested that it might make dealing with things worse for you to learn the truth then."

"The last few years, we have worried about Madison's stability emotionally if she was to learn the truth but apparently she has known it for a while. How long?" He asked.

"For me, junior year of high school."

"Ellen told me. I mean how long has Madison known?" He asked. "We tried to tell her several years ago, but she refused to listen."

"From what I understand she was sent a letter from an enemy of hers who didn't think about how it would affect me at the beginning of our second year of college." Mac replied with a heavy sigh. "Look, I am pretty busy. Please just help me by getting the background information together for my doctor."

"We not only lost a daughter twenty five years ago, we lost a grandchild." he said softly as he backed away so that she could go. Wiping his tears, he went inside to deal with his other daughter.

Looking at Madison who was complaining about Mac being there, he said "Madison, enough. You have known the truth for over nine years."

The blond snapped "She has no right requesting your help with anything. None at all."

"She is being a good mother." Ellen said looking at the paperwork in her hands. "I am going to be a grandmother."

"No, you aren't." Madison said glaring at her. "Mrs. Mackenzie is going to be a grandmother. You aren't. Why can't you get that? SHE doesn't want you in her life."

"Because of your behavior, Madison." Ellen said looking at the child she had raised. "We act like we are blind but we are well aware of your selfish and nasty attitude. You cost us any chance of knowing her."

"She didn't." Her father said and when he saw Madison's smile, he shook his head and continued "We did because we didn't rein in Madison's behavior out of shame for not loving her enough. We indulged her; we never forced her to grow up. I think that it is time that changed. Madison, as of today, I am canceling your credit cards, you have a job, get some in your own name. Pay the bills yourself like most other people your age."

"But I only work part time, dad." She pointed out not really worried, she was sure that her uncle would take care of them if her parent's didn't.

"Then get a full time job that pays better. I will still cover your health insurance but I am taking your car off of my policy at well. You own your condo, we gave you that as a graduation gift, but you are now on your own as to fees and utilities." He said then seeing her placid expression said "Abe called me. Do you recall my telling you that he can be ruthless when he wants to be? Well after his call and now learning what I think you did to Sam Mackenzie, using my name, well what little leeway you had is gone."

"So?" She asked. Seeing his disgust, she said "About my godfather, I mean. As for Mac's dad, he is just that, her dad, no connection to me."

"What you don't know is that Abe has a real issue with blood raising blood." He replied.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"Madison, he called to tell me that he was surprised to find out that biologically you weren't a Sinclair. You are aware that he is leaving his fortune to your cousins and you but not your grandmother's stepchildren, right?"

"So?" She asked again.

"He was doing that because you were blood from blood. Now that he knows you aren't, he let me know that you won't be receiving anything from him. He wanted me to give you a heads up."

"He can't do that. I saved his life. He owes me." She said furious about the news.

"He feels that he doesn't owe you anything except heartfelt thanks." Her father said.

"I will sue his ass; he promised if I helped him, he would leave me my equal share." Madison replied.

With a shake of his head, her father said "Madison, you can't sue someone for not leaving you money in a will, nor can you profit from illegal activities and I am guessing that whatever you did, it wasn't legal. Not if you needed to use my name to do it."

Madison thought about the check that she had gotten from Abe earlier that week and began to get that it had been a payoff for services rendered not a gift like she had thought from a doting uncle figure.

Walking to the front door, she looked at her parents, her mom who seemed more interested in the paperwork that bitch had given her and her father who just seemed resigned and said "Why didn't you give me, back. It's clear that you never loved me."

"We tried." Madison didn't know if they meant that they had tried to give her back or tried to love her and she was done caring. She knew someone who wanted to take down Veronica and she was going to give him the goods as long as he promised to destroy Mac at the same time.

Arriving at Dan Lamb's office, she sat down in the chair across from him and said "I want you to help me ruin Veronica Mars and Cindy Mackenzie."

"No." Dan replied with a knowing smirk. "I had a call from a little birdie named Celeste. She was rather furious to find out about your plan with her ex-husband to create a new Kane heir."

"It won't be happening; Jake Kane pulled out of the plan and destroyed the samples." Madison admitted. "I don't really give a damn about that, I want to ruin the two people who have ruined my life."

"Before we get to that, you told me that my brother died because he was trying to prove to Veronica that he was a better cop than her father. That he died because she recklessly sent him into danger."

"It's true, he told me so himself." Madison said confidently.

"Yes I know. I mean you were very honest about your affair with him." Dan said then looking at the blond who seemed to think he was an idiot; he stated "You shouldn't have pissed of Celeste, Madison. She isn't someone you want as an enemy."

Rolling her eyes, she said "That old woman is all words; she can't back them up now that Jake Kane isn't in her life."

"See, that is where you are wrong. What most people aren't aware of is that the Head of Security for Kane Software is in her back pocket most of the time. Weidman sent me a tape this week, one he was holding onto to use at a later date is my guess."

Dan Lamb hit play and Madison blanched at the tape of his brother and her having sex. She saw the Christmas tree in the background and then heard words that made her stand to escape. "He asked you to marry him. My stupid soft brother was in love with you, wasn't he, Madison?"

They heard her answer, then her laughter as she dressed and exited the room then silence as he stopped the tape. "This was taped just before my brother's death. He wasn't trying to impress Veronica, he was trying to prove himself worthy of someone who would sleep with him but would never link her name with his, would you?"

Madison looked at the Sheriff and felt angry as she said "He actually thought that I, Madison Sinclair would marry a simple county sheriff. That I would move into his squalid little house and get pregnant with his kids. As if, I mean if I was intending on marrying anyone here in Neptune, I would marry Dick and have his brats, at least I would have all his money. I mean, Don actually suggested that I get a job."

"Get the fuck out of my office." He said in a dark tone. "You are going to pay and pay dearly for what you did to Don."

"Did you forget who my daddy is?" She asked with a smirk of her own as she tossed her hair back to remind him that she wasn't some poor girl that she was the one on control.

"No, I didn't. Which is why when you get eventually get arrested, I will be bullet proof, so bullet proof that not even Veronica Mars could get you out of it." He said then watching her leave looked in anger at the e-mail from Celeste telling him that she would not be returning to Neptune.

More upset at losing the money she gave him then the warm body in his bed; he quietly called her a bitch and went to cover his own ass in the crimes he had committed at her direction. He should have left well enough along as he missed the Crown Vic following him, photographing and making a note of every single move he made.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Nine

Mac shut her door after Abe Masters had left, astounded at his audacity. He had laid bare everything that had been done and she was furious with Celeste Kane and Madison but felt a bit of regret at her anger with Matt Sinclair.

Turns out he hadn't done much more than change the man's permanent address. He hadn't been aware of who else was up to receive the liver; he had been aware that her father was in the hospital but had not known about his needing a transplant.

Only Madison had been aware of that fact. Abe had also told her about the call he had received from Ellen Sinclair as well as the angry message from Madison about being told she wouldn't inherit.

Mac felt she had to at least make up to them for that accusation so when she started to make calls, gathering everyone together, she reluctantly added them to the list.

Mac waited until everyone was at her place, grimacing as she ate the healthy meal recommended by her doctor. When she drank the soy milk to wash down the food, she said "Thanks for coming everyone."

"Did we have a choice?" Wallace asked shuddering as he recalled the rather over dramatic order on the phone. He had seen a glimpse of just who Mac would have been if she had gone home a Sinclair and had been afraid for just a moment.

Weevil grimaced when Mac's eyes fell onto him; he held up his hands and said "You never asked me if I talked to him. You asked if I saw him which I hadn't."

"Eli, revenge will be sweet." She warned with a dark glare that had the street hardened biker squirming. "Now thanks to Jade, I have located Dick. I am going to speak to him directly and this is what is going to be done in the mean time."

Pinning Logan to the back of the chair with her eyes, she said "Veronica was given her marching orders; you are going to help her in your spare time. Call in whatever resources you need but I want it done in one week."

"Okay." Logan looked at Veronica who smiled weakly his way and held up a file about a half inch thick and a set of keys and a credit card.

Mac's eyes went to her brother "When they need muscle, you are to help. Wallace, you can help too."

Getting two yes ma'ams, she turned to her dad and said "Since you are still under doctor's care you get to plan something for me. However, remember who you are doing this for, so no camping, no traveling in an RV and no, absolutely no fishing."

Taking the offered folder, he chuckled then saw his daughter's biological father looking around confused when she spoke to Cliff mentioning he was there as an attorney "I need you to quickly draw up some legal papers."

Giving him her notes, she said "You have an hour."

Cliff read what was inside, his eyes widening as he looked at Mac. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, but I want a clause in there that states I get to chose all names." She said then looking at Dick's mother then at her biological mother then moving onto her real mom, she gave them marching orders that had all three women gleefully promising to take care of things the right way.

Finally, Mac's eyes fell onto her biological dad "I need you to help them with any legal issues but also to do me one favor."

"Anything." He said still reeling from what had happened earlier that day and the shock of being in the same room with her.

"Get the DA to free Weevil from all charges. Mr. Mars has the files I got from the Kane residence and if they give you any trouble, happen to mention that I also have proof that Celeste Kane was behind my being kidnapped and held in that house against my will."

Mac dropped a file and a thumb drive on the desk and said to Veronica. "Jake Kane's very accommodating neighbor had video proof of my kidnapping. Turns out he is against crimes by the rich as much as he is about breaking and entering."

"Are you serious?" Veronica asked laughing at the irony of that. A tape from that neighbor had cost her father everything, now one could help free Weevil.

"Yes." Mac admitted. "He gave the tape up when I threatened to have my attorney contact him."

"Mac, while we are taking care of all of this, where will you be?" Bettina asked as she looked at the list Mac had given Veronica and deciding to help with that as well.

"First, anyone who doesn't want to hear anything illegal please, cover your ears."

When only Wallace did, Mac rolled her eyes and said "I hired a safe cracker to break into Dick's safe."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to just have me open it?" Logan asked amused.

Mac's withering glance had Logan chuckling which quickly faded as she called someone and canceled their appointment. "What do you want from the safe?"

"The ring which Veronica showed me photos of during her second attempt to stonewall me today." Veronica smirked when she saw Mac's glare. As the day had gone by, Mac had become more and more determined and the blond knew that if she was going to deal with Dick, she needed that strength.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac drove the hundred and fifty miles to Lake Tahoe, stopping every twenty-five miles to take a break, after a call to her doctor. Now it was almost bedtime so she checked into a Holiday Inn wanting to confront Dick when she was feeling up to it.

Calling Veronica, she was filled in on the progress with her plan. With a quick call to Bettina, she breathed a sigh of relief when Dick's mom reassured her that she would remember who Mac was and not get carried away.

Sitting down on the hotel bed, she hesitated then called Keith Mars who told her that Matt Sinclair was working on getting Weevil out of trouble. That Celeste Kane had refused to drop charges in spite of being warned that they had evidence of her kidnapping Mac.

The DA and Sheriff Lamb had been rather reluctant to go against one of the wealthiest women in Neptune, until he had been shown the video footage of Mac's kidnapping, but that had changed when Matt had said that he would make public the fact that Mac was four weeks pregnant.

The DA had still refused to consider charging Celeste so Matt had brought out the big guns, that Mac was engaged to Dick and that she was his biological daughter.

When Sheriff Lamb had given him a knowing grin and suggested that keeping that secret quiet might be a good idea, to make the charges against Celeste go away, Matt had given him a cold smile and said "Cindy is Ellen and my natural daughter. A hospital mistake had us bringing home Madison."

"What happened, next?" Mac asked Keith.

"The DA dropped charges against Weevil if you would agree to not press charges against Celeste." Keith said. "I pointed out we had video footage of Weidman and her and that she drove your car to the Kane house. That we had the stronger position here."

"I am fine with it, but only if there is no way that the police can try to bring charges against Weevil again." She said as firmly as possible. "I don't trust her or them."

Keith went silent, his mind on Sacks and the corruption that was rife in the Balboa County Sheriff's department. Even if Celeste and Jake were dealt with, there were other rich families in Neptune who felt as if the police department was their own personal militia.

He had found what he needed while tailing Dan earlier that day and he intended to use it to root out as much of the corruption as he could.

Hanging up after wishing Mac a good night and telling her that speaking to her parents had been a good idea, he sat there in his office, hoping to find a way to fix all the world's problems, starting with the ones in Neptune California.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac went to bed, her mind on the past, on the mistakes that had been made over the years. She knew that it was the past that had Dick running, that had him so sure he knew how this would end. Two hours later, she was tossing and turning, not sleeping in spite of how tired she was.

Standing, she looked for the room service menu and saw that the hotel restaurant was closed, so she took a shower, changed her clothes and went to find something to eat. Finding an all night dinner, she ordered chili fries no cheese and a coke.

Eating slowly, she watched the crowd as they came and went in spite of how late it was. When her waitress came over, she asked "Why so busy so late?"

"A lot of people are coming off the night shift at the Casino across the border in Nevada." She was told. Mac handed her the cash for her bill and tip then left. Driving to the address she had for Dick's cabin, she took out the keys that Logan had located for her and let herself into the large log cabin.

Log cabin, more like log mansion. Walking through the living room, she saw a light down the hallway and went that way. Finding the kitchen light on and an empty high ball glass on the counter, she walked to the staircase and up to the second floor.

All of the doors were open except one down the hallway, which had large double doors. Opening the door, Mac saw Dick asleep not in the bed, but on the upstairs balcony in a lounge chair. Hearing the sound of static, she turned around and saw the television was still on but that whatever he had been watching was now over.

Moving out to the balcony, admiring the air of innocence in spite of knowing that Dick was a lot of things but none of them were innocent. When she heard him muttering her name in his sleep, Mac found that she was angry with him for that, for being able to sleep when she was feeling restless.

Walking back into the bedroom, she sat down on the bed, looking around the large room. Finding the photo on the night stand, she swore and getting up, went to the wet bar she could see in the corner. Opening the small refrigerator, she scooped some ice cubes from the small freezer, put them in a glass and then opened one of the bottles of water.

Carrying the now full glass out to the balcony, she took a drink, stared at Dick then dumped the water onto his stomach.

"What the hell?" Dick shot straight up and looked around for who had attacked him even as he brushed the ice cubes off his shorts. When his eyes met hers, his widened then he backed away until he was against the log wall. "Mac, why did you dump water on me?"

"I wanted to wake you up." Mac said glaring at him. "Why should you get to sleep when I can't?"

Dick looked at Mac, then shaking his head, removed his shirt and shucked the shorts he had on before walking into the bathroom and grabbing a towel, dried his chest. Hearing Mac following him, he said "So you threw water on me?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." She admitted feeling a bit guilty when she saw that he was trying to understand. "It was either the ice cubes and water or pulling your hair."

"Okay, then I'm rather happy you chose the lesser of two evils." He said leaving the bathroom and returning to the bedroom. "Why are you here? How are you here?"

"We weren't finished talking." Mac said scowling at him. "As for the how, it wasn't hard. I was able to figure out where you went with help. They only helped after I went all 09er on their asses."

"Why?" He asked. "You are free, Mac. I swear I will stay away. I don't blame you for hating me."

"You are such a coward, Richard Christopher Casablancas." She said moving closer to where he was now seated. Standing directly in front of him, she reached down and lifted his head until he was forced to look her directly in the eyes. "I am mad at you, for not talking to me nine years ago, for not coming to me and for the pain we have suffered for the last nine years as a result. I am pissed at you for messing with my birth control."

With a sigh, she continued "The thing is… you got very lucky because I am happy about being pregnant. I am glad that the truth came out about the past and am hopeful that we have a future, because Dick, in spite of everything that has happened, I still love you."

"What?"

"I. Love. You." she said moving closer until she was right in front of him. Pushing his legs apart, she tilted his head up and pressed a kiss onto his unresponsive lips. "I don't like you at this very minute, but I do love you."

Dick reached out and enclosed Mac's hands into his and then lifting them to his face, pressed a kiss to her palms. "You shouldn't. I'm an ass, I don't always think before acting and I am never going to be who you deserve, I will never be that smart."

Mac felt a sharp pain as she realized he still didn't get it. "Dick, I saw the picture. You are wrong in what you are thinking. I don't love Cassidy. I don't want him. In high school, I wanted to belong and he made me feel like I belonged at a time when I was feeling adrift."

"I was so nasty to you." He said softly. "Veronica and you, you were making things change and I saw so scared of change, Mac. I didn't want anything to change. You were always there, then you began dating my brother and I made an ass of myself."

"Dick, we have to move past the past." She said as she bent down so that she could look him in the eyes.

"Mac, I have to face what I did." He replied then looking at her stomach said "For this future you seem to think we can have. I haven't faced it for years. I was doing so that summer, moving past what I helped instigate. I was so happy when we started talking, Mac. When we got together, it gave me more hope but it went to hell so quickly."

Mac pulled her hands free from his and wiped her tears before she said "I can't believe you thought I would do that."

Dick leaned forward, resting his head on her shoulder and then pulling her up eased her onto the bed next to him. "I just didn't think I deserved you, so when I was told what a D&C was, it made sense. I took those drugs when I got back to the suite and then dreamed that you did it because you wanted Beaver not me. I should have walked away; I shouldn't have tried to hurt you because of something I dreamed."

Mac got it, she really did. Dick had always had low self esteem, in spite of his outer shell's obnoxious behavior; he had never truly felt loved. She had added to the situation back in college because she hadn't wanted anyone to know that they were involved. She had wanted to tell Veronica first, and then it had all gone to hell.

"I should have confronted you, Dick. I didn't. I climbed back into my shell and hid. If Veronica hadn't come home, I would still be hiding." She said quietly. "The reason I didn't confront you is the only secret that I am still keeping from you."

Taking a deep breath, she said "When I was born, I was sent home with the wrong family."

"Wow." Dick said looking at Mac. "I am going to guess that Veronica figured it out for you."

"Junior year. I know who my biological parents are. I know who I was switched with." She said softly. "I was so angry when I learned the truth that they found out when we were both four and that the arbitrator in the case decided we should stay with the families we went home with. I have always felt different, like I was an outsider. The only good thing about learning the truth made me realize that I was lucky to have the parents I did. They loved me for me."

"When I fell apart, my parents were there for me. They never pressed me to do anything. They wanted me to go to therapy but understood when I left because I wasn't comfortable with the woman who was supposed to be helping. I eventually went to someone else but it was because I knew I needed help." Mac said. "They gave me the time and the understanding to get myself pulled back together."

Mac looked at him and said "When Veronica left, Wallace and I were fighting, Logan just faded away and you were so hateful, I climbed back into my shell."

"I was not any better, I returned to my old behaviors, I started hiding from life with my brownies and partying with the same people I hung out with in high school." He said. "I would watch you; to me it looked like you were moving on and just hated and loved you at the same time."

"I need to ask you something." She said then admitted "I am wrong in asking but I need to know. Madison and you, you didn't..?"

"No." He said his eyes meeting hers. "We didn't that day either. Nothing happened except that I got a tape of Shelly and Madison having sex. I left that night, after you did. I went to my dad's place and decided to move back in. I stayed with Logan but climbed back into a bottle other than when I attended class. It wasn't enough to kill the pain, so I tried the brownies."

Dick looked at Mac. "When Luke then Gia died, when I found out why, I realized how close I came to being a part of that mess. If I hadn't passed out I might have been that stupid. After all look what I did to Veronica."

"Dick, you don't give yourself enough credit. You had already changed by the time we got together. You have been through hell, yes, you caused a lot of it but not ALL of it." She said running her hands over his back in comfort.

"I look at you and it's hard to believe that you could love someone like me." He said. "I fell so hard for you that summer and when I realized that I was still in love with you, it scared me but even worse is that my first instinct was to trick you and trap you. What kind of person does that?"

"Someone who is desperate and who doesn't trust that someone can love them." She took a deep breath and let go of the pain, the bitterness knowing she had to for their future and then pulling him closer pressed a kiss to his lips. "I love you."

Standing, feeling a bit nervous, Dick pulled her to her feet and said "I love you, too."

When Dick leaned down to kiss her, Mac yawned loudly and then flushed as she did it again. He held her and laughed softly asking "Am I boring you?"

"No." She replied embarrassed. "This little person inside of me is tiring me out. I have been trying to sleep all day and couldn't. Now that I don't want to sleep, they want to."

"They?" He asked not sure how he felt about the idea of they. He was a bit worried about being a dad to one let alone two children at this point.

"I don't want to say it and constantly saying he or she is annoying." She admitted then yawned again. Dick bent down and lifted her, grunting a bit when he did so only to be smacked as he tossed her onto the bed. "Go to sleep."

"Stay." She ordered. When he tried to say no, she said "Stay, please. I don't want to be worried that when I wake up you will be gone again."

"I am going nowhere." He vowed then reaching over turned out the light before settling in beside her. When Mac rested her head on the pillow and drifted off to sleep, the blond couldn't help wondering if he was going to wake up and find that this was all a dream.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Veronica looked over the list of jobs Mac had left and was glad to see that almost everything was finished. Dick had taken care of the house, she had just been responsible for moving Mac's place and what Dick had of a personal nature into the new place. Leaving only one major job and that was one assignment she was trying to stay out of because the three mothers seemed to be doing a bang up job of arranging things themselves.

Hearing her name being called, she looked up to see her dad grinning widely as he entered the Mars Investigations office. "Why do you look like the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders came and asked you to spend the week with them?"

"Cheerleaders? Do I really look that easy?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow. "No, you are looking on the face of a man who has been vindicated. We found Jerry's safe deposit box and after a meeting with reporters for CNN, Fox News and the head of both Homeland Security and the State Bureau of Investigations."

"I got the pleasure of watching as Dan Lamb was arrested for conspiracy to commit first degree murder in the death of Gerald Sacks and public corruption, unfortunately there is no direct proof tying Celeste Kane to the case, but we do have the Fitzpatricks, the Mendoza drug cartel connected to the Enboms and my personal favorite, the DA forced to resign."

"There was a list of six judges that were taking bribes and are being forced to resign and two different private prisons who have been accepting prisoners that they knew were not guilty who are to be shut down or new management put in place."

"So we got them?" Veronica asked cautiously?

"Baby, we have got them cold and the best part is that the rest of the rats are scurrying away from the ship." Keith said. "I got the idea of the safe deposit box from Mac's comment about a safe cracker. I had found a safe at Sack's place but it was empty. I thought that Lamb had gotten to it. Then I remembered running into him at a bank the day before his death."

Veronica took was cautiously optimistic, she had believed that with Aaron's arrest things would settle down but it had only been the beginning of a new nightmare. This time she would take a wait and see attitude.

_TBC_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Dick woke up alone, in the bed and felt disoriented. He felt disappointed at the knowledge that he had dreamed all of it the night before. Mac's presence and then her telling him she loved him before falling asleep in his arms.

Lying there, not wanting to move, he was wallowing in loneliness when he smelt bacon. Bacon? At first his brain said MAC and that it was real then the smell of the bacon reminded him that there was no way that Mac had cooked bacon.

Still who was in his house and why were they there?

Stomping down the stairs, intending on smacking around whoever it was, he stopped in the doorway to the kitchen and stared in shock. "Mac?"

The petite young woman was sitting on a bar stool and moaning out loud as she picked up yet another piece of bacon from a large pile in front of her and lifting it above her head ate it.

"Uh, Mac when did the pod people get to you 'cause I am almost certain that they grabbed you." He said moving over to stand next to her as his eyes went from the bacon to the woman he loved. "You're eating bacon. Not tofu bacon either, like really meat bacon. It had eyes."

At that Mac gagged, then glared at Dick before making a run to the stairs and up them. Chasing after her, Dick stood in the doorway and gagged as she threw up into the toilet.

When she finished, he said "That was just gross and a waste of perfectly good bacon."

"Dick, this is one of those moments when if you knew what was good for you, you would shut up." She said glaring at him from where she was now kneeling. "Do you think I want to be eating bacon?"

"Duh." He said then saw her eyes narrowing. "What?"

"Just so that you know, right at this moment I am plotting your downfall because this is all your fault." She said in a hard tone.

"I don't think so. I am quite sure that the packaging for that bacon said what it was." He said smugly.

Mac stood and moved towards him, backing him up and then when he was against a wall she said "You got me pregnant."

"Yeah I did." He said his expression even more smug if that was possible.

"I just ate bacon and didn't even want to." She said in almost a whining tone. "It's all your fault."

"Okay, I don't get how my getting you pregnant had anything to do with your suddenly becoming a carnivore." He said blinking at her as she suddenly fell onto her knees and threw up again.

Now worried, he knelt next to her and rested his hand on the back of her shoulders. "Mac, should I call a doctor. I mean, this is way over the top to finding out you ate bacon."

Mac soon stopped losing everything she had eaten recently and rested her head on the cool porcelain of the lid and then looking at Dick said "It's morning sickness."

"So I should call a doctor?" He asked nervously.

"No, I have pills to help with it, but the morning sickness combined with the grease from the bacon were too much." She said weakly then asked "Toothbrush."

"I don't have a spare but you can use mine, I mean if you don't mind..." He said his voice trailing off as he saw that Mac's skin was now pale even for her.

Helping her stand, he gave her the toothbrush with some toothpaste already on it and a small glass of water. When she looked some what better, he said "There is a Med Express in town, maybe we should run in and get you checked out."

"All they will tell me is that it will begin to fade as I go into my second trimester." She said as she patted his shoulder then said "The small human being inside of me clearly isn't going to be a vegan. Over the last few days I have wanted burgers, milk and cheese and then last night a steak."

"Babies want food?" He asked a bit surprised.

"Yes." She said then leading the way back downstairs sat across from him and then gagging asked him to put the bacon in the fridge.

"Its fine, I will just throw it out." He said only to have her hand whip out and stop him. "What?"

"I might want more of that later." She said and insisted he put it in the fridge.

Doing so out confusion of what was going on, Dick looked at her and said "I thought your being here had been a dream."

"It's real." She stated then looking at him closer said with a laugh, "Speaking of my being here, I want to go back to bed."

"Then why did you get up?" He asked.

"The baby wanted bacon." She said with a shrug. "It's also why I went to sleep last night. What the baby wants, it gets."

"Wow, he is a mini me, spoiled already." He said with a grin.

"Come back upstairs with me." She said holding her hand out to him.

"I will be up in a few minutes." He said looking at her and curious as to what she had meant the night before about her inner 09eer coming out and knowing that Logan would spill the beans. "I'm not really tired."

"Dick." Mac pulled her shirt up over her head and tossed it at him before heading up the stairs. "Neither am I."

"Fuck calling Logan." He muttered and rushed up the stairs behind her.

Two long hot and sweaty hours later, Dick was holding Mac as they leaned against the headboard. "Now this was how I remembered things between us in the past. No secrets, no separation, just hot sex that made me never want you out of my sight."

Mac chuckled at that comment and his rather happy tone. "It makes a difference when I don't want to smother you with your own pillow."

"Oh that could be hot too, but it was the aftermath that I hated. You ran from me, from us." He said his mind on the last eight weeks. The sex had been great, hot and sweaty and there had been moments when he had thought he had felt their connection again but this time was the first time he had known for sure.

Holding her around the waist, thinking that she had to be tired, it hit him. "Shit, did we hurt the baby?"

Mac blushed as she got why he was asking and said "No, Dr. Malcolm said that I can keep up with all normal activities until almost the end of my pregnancy."

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he said "Marry me?"

"Last time I looked, we were already engaged." She said hiding her smirk. "Pre nup is already signed and I seem to recall you asking your mother to find me a dress."

Lifting her head so that he could look in her eyes he said "You should be kicking my ass for that."

"I would but see I happen to have plans for that ass." She replied with a pinch to his arm. "And yes, I will marry you."

When he went to kiss her, she pulled back and with a straight face said "I have requirements first."

With that, she scooted off the bed, looked around and found her purse on the dresser. Going over to it, she removed the paperwork she had had Cliff create.

Handing it to him, she said "Read this."

Dick opened the paperwork and his eyes went wide as they went from the paperwork to her at the written words telling him that she would not divorce him, that they would work together for their future and that she would never take their children away. It might not have been legal, but Dick felt a sense of comfort at the words written in it "For real?"

"Yes. Do you agree to my terms?" She said curling up next to him, completely comfortable with her nakedness for the first time since they had gotten back together.

"Yes to almost all of them." He said then reaching for something in the nightstand drawer, he pulled out a marker and went back to looking until he found a pen then crossed out one of the requirements and rewrote one of his one.

Mac took the offered paperwork back and read what he had written. Shaking her head, she said "I don't want your money."

"Tough, what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine." He said in a sing-song tone. "Wait, Mac do you want to go to Vegas because there is no other way we can get married that soon."

"Actually my biological father and Cliff arranged for the paperwork to be taken care of. We can get married this weekend." She said.

"How did he manage that?" Dick asked.

Looking at him, she said "The girl I was switched with, it was Madison."

Dick found himself staring at Mac, sure that she was joking but then Veronica's words warning him that he had no idea how badly he had screwed up came to mind and he finally understood what she was talking about.

"Dick, please, just say something." Mac said getting nervous the longer he stayed quiet.

"How is it you don't hate me." He asked in shock as he held her tightly around the waist and buried his head into her shoulder.

"You didn't know." She said. "If you had slept with her. I am not so sure that I could have gotten past it. She was the reason the first liver went to Mr. Masters. She knew that my dad was her biological dad and she sold him down the river for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver."

Dick swallowed as he admitted "I didn't do anything to help, and I didn't hinder your dad's transplant, Mac. I made it look like I did."

Mac smiled at him and said "I spoke to Dr. Vista while I was spinning my wheels looking for you. He told me that you paid the bills which gave him the ability to twist a few arms. You helped more than you know."

"I should have never done what I did though." He admitted. "I heard Ronnie speaking to Logan and for the first time in nine years I wasn't depressed, I wasn't hiding. I had a plan and was determined to see it through."

Mac grimaced as she recalled the original agreement between them and said "I couldn't believe you were doing that. It shocked me."

Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, he said "I regret the pain it caused you but not the results. I am sorry but it got me here so I can't regret that."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Early the next morning, Dick woke up a sleeping Mac as he crossed the Neptune city sign. "We are back."

"Okay." She said sleepily then closed her eyes for a second. "Wait stop at the burger joint near Neptune High."

Amused, Dick watched as Mac ordered a strawberry banana milkshake. Driving to her place, he was carrying her bag inside when they walked into Logan and Veronica moaning on the sofa. "Get a room."

"Good idea." Logan said picking up his girlfriend with the intent of carrying her to her bedroom only for Veronica to bite his arm and say for him to put her down.

Veronica looked at the happy couple and smiled at what she saw. Then putting on her game face, moved close to Dick and said "Upset her again or run again and you will meet the business end of my taser, do you get what I am saying."

Nodding at the same time as he grinned at his fiancée, Dick said "No upsetting Logan or running. I might not be able to taser you, but I will carry your ass back to Neptune this time."

Nodding that she understood, she tugged Logan's hand towards the front door. "Wait, but I wanted to spend the night with you."

"Dick's place is empty." Mac offered helpfully and the pilot winked at Mac and then changed his mind on staying and gathering his keys, his phone and his girlfriend, he quickly waved at the couple before leaving.

"Now where were we?" Dick asked as he led the way to Mac's bedroom.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Two days later, Saturday morning, Dick and Logan were surfing early in the morning. "How are you man?"

"She's home, I'm home and we are talking, really talking." Logan replied. "I think that the trust is back."

"Good because I was thinking you could be like the godfather dude to my spawn." Dick said as they sat on their surfboards waiting for waves.

"I am almost certain Mac would not like the word spawn, Dick." Logan cautioned.

"Most of the time, yeah, but this morning when she was eating a ham and cheese omelet, that was what she called the Dicklet." Dick replied with a grin.

"Dicklet also might be on the banned list." Logan warned.

With a great wave heading their way, the rode it in and were on the shore when they heard their names being called. Greeting Casey and a few others, Logan asked "What's up?"

"Not much. Did you hear about Enbom? His dad is heading to prison for drug trafficking?" Rams asked. "He couldn't even go home the police have the house taped up."

"I have been out of town." Dick said.

"Yeah but you don't read the paper anyhow." Casey replied.

"Nah, but I do watch the news." Dick replied. "So, was Enbom arrested too?"

"No, he isn't even a suspect." Cole stated as he looked at Logan. "I heard you are back with Mars. When will you learn that she is trouble, man?"

"Probably when we have our second or third kid." Logan idly responded. "Either way, my relationship with Veronica is none of your business."

"It's your balls in a vice man." Cole responded. Looking at Dick he asked "Has Madison called you yet, wanting you to take care of her. She is in deep shit man. Her dad cut her off, and she had some sort of deal going with Duncan's dad that he changed his mind on."

"Madison might want to consider getting a job." Dick said. "I am not going to help her with anything."

"Man, she isn't going to like that." Cole said shaking his head. "You know that eventually you will give in, after all it's Madison."

"Something tells me my wife won't like that, especially since she can't stand Madison." Dick replied. "Also, the last time I as you so eloquently put it gave into Madison was in high school. That was over ten years ago."

"Whoa, you are married?" Cole asked in shock. "Get some girl knocked up?"

With a cold laugh, Dick said "I have been engaged since the end of April, Cole."

"Damn, who is it, because I would have heard if you married anyone significant." Cole said. "So if you married her, she must be something extraordinary in bed and filthy rich out of it. You always swore that you would never be like your parents and get married."

"Wrong man. I swore I would never marry for the reasons my parents did which was for money. Mac and I, we are so the opposite from that." Dick replied as he began to unzip his wet suit.

Rams's eyes narrowed and then asked "God, please tell me you aren't marrying your brother's unwanted leftovers."

"Casey, get your friends to walk away, right now." Logan warned his hands now holding Dick back.

"I mean, yeah, she is hot enough for white trash but please she dated your nut job of a brother and even he found her lacking according to Kimmie. I mean, I remember Shelly telling me all about her throwing herself at you back in college." Cole continued to speak as Casey looked at Dick.

"She didn't throw herself at me." Dick replied quietly.

"According to Shelly, Ghostworld saw Madison and you having sex and ran away that summer." Casey replied. "How on earth did she get past that if you were dating then?"

"Well if Shelly told you, it had to be the truth." Logan said in a sarcastic tone.

"What really happened is way more interesting. Mac and I were dating and we had a fight. I was on the balcony annoyed by all of the leeches having a party at the penthouse when Madison and Shelly came out and began having sex with one another and not realizing I was taping them."

"No way, it happened that way, man. Shelly said you were having sex with both of them." Cole said.

Dick smirked and said "No, I wasn't but they were so high they probably didn't notice the difference. I got into an argument with Mac while they were there and then I left the penthouse which the two skanks took as an invitation to have sex in my room."

"Well we both know that if you tapped that in college, you don't go back for seconds, at least not from any girl but Madison." Rams inserted himself back into the conversation.

Shaking his head, Dick looked at the trio and said "I don't owe you any explanation but you should know. I love Mac, I am marrying Mac and anyone who can't accept us should stay away because I won't let your negative energy affect our family."

_LoVe&MaDi_

Mac was staring at the three very different wedding dresses and hated to hurt the feelings of all of the women but she knew she couldn't wear any of them. "I am sorry but..."

There was a wide grin on Bettina's face as she held out her hand to each of the other women who put ten dollars into her hands. "What is going on?"

"Bettina said that none of these dresses were you." Natalie said with a bit of a pout as the blond woman came back into the room holding a garment bag.

Mac opened the bag and found the simple white lace dress. She wanted to protest wearing it but Bettina suggested that she just try it in.

A few minutes later, Mac's eyes went to the dress that other than being a little long was perfect. Hearing Veronica's gasp, she looked at the blond and said "Does it look awful."

"No, it looks great. It's just I was worried they were going to go a bit overboard." She said and with a soft smile took in Mac wearing a basic slip dress with a lace overlay that was tight around the breasts and then fell straight down.

"I knew it. An empire waist cut gown was perfect." Bettina said as she grinned widely.

"Wait, Veronica, did Logan arrange to get Dick's clothes?" Ellen asked still in shock at the idea of her biological daughter marrying Richard Casablancas, the very boy she had deemed a nightmare when dating Madison.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Dick looked around the beach a bit confused as Logan suggested he change clothes. "Shouldn't we be like at a church or something?"

"Just change."

Dick did as Logan ordered in the nearby tent. Walking out he said "Did you leave my shoes and stuff in the truck. Are we going to have to change and stuff at the church."

"Dick, why are you so obsessed with a church?" Logan asked with a chuckle as he looked around until he saw Ryan walking their way. "Are they here?"

"Yes, they just arrived." Ryan said. "So, Dick, why are you getting married at the beach? I mean was that one of the moms or was that Mac's idea."

"Wait, what, we are getting married at the beach? What happened to St. Francis?" He asked looking at Logan and then down at his light tan dress pants and white dress shirt. "We were getting married at a church and I can't get married without a tie, Mac deserves a tie."

As Dick began to ramble on and on about why all of this was wrong, Logan leaned against the lifeguard station, intending on waiting him out but twenty minutes later, Keith Mars showed up looking harassed and after listening to Dick's rant, pinched the blond.

"What did you do that for?" Dick asked stopping his laundry list of reasons why this was all wrong on the fact that he was barefooted.

"Your bride is on the other side of those dunes more than likely convinced you aren't showing up, so I would suggest that you head over and get married." Keith said shaking his head on amusement then looking at Logan shook it. "You should have stopped that much sooner than that."

"Sorry but it was a rather interesting look into Dick's mind when it comes to Mac. Something tells me that none of that was ever said to Mac. It just was interesting, I mean, Dick wanting a church wedding? I don't think he has ever even been in a church in years."

Heading over the dunes, they found Dick standing in front of Mac and the guests seemed in shock. At first thinking that Dick had done something stupid, they moved closer and heard him filling his bride in on all the reasons that this had to be perfect.

When Mac wiped the tears on her own cheek then pressed a kiss to Dick's lips to stop him from speaking, more than one woman sighed at the look they shared.

"Dick, are you going to be there?" She gently asked.

"IF you are getting married, I damn well better be the groom." He said with a scowl then his eyes went to the man in the white collar. "Sorry Father, but I am nervous."

Mac turned him so that he was looking at her. "AM I here?"

When he nodded she smiled and said "Is our baby here?"

His eyes went to her stomach and his hands to her hips as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her still flat stomach. "Yes.

"Good, then as long as all the rest of these people have given up their Saturday night to be here and witness this, I suggest that we just go ahead and get married, okay?"

"I want this to be perfect because this is the only wedding you are ever getting, Mac. We should be in tuxes and you in a gown, though, I really, really like the one you are wearing." He said with a wide grin and he leaned down and whispered in her ear "I can see your breasts when I am standing in front of you."

Mac laughed and looked up at him and said "Marry me?"

"Yes." He answered and looking at the Priest said "We want to get married."

"So I was given to understand." The man replied with a straight face as he moved them into position in front of the makeshift alter of lavender and purple baby roses.

_LoVe&MaDi_

Eight months later, Logan was not very happy with Dick as he glared at him from across the bridal table. Two hours earlier he had gotten Veronica Mars to the alter and now his bride had just fled the room with Mac on her heels.

"What, how was I supposed to know?" He said with a smirk. Veronica had been throwing up and eating strange things for almost a month and Dick had been so happy to figure it out before Logan that his fiancée was pregnant.

Still he was quite sure that his wife was unhappy with him for whispering in Veronica's ear that she was growing a little thick around the waist and asking if she was pregnant or getting fat.

However, he owed Mars for what she had pulled the week before at his daughter's christening. Veronica had been taking the pictures and had gotten a few candid shots of Dick with Sophia.

One in which he was trying to put on the diaper and failing and the second one had him looking confused as he attempted to figure out the onsie snaps.

She had then posted them online and had used old shots of him streaking across campus freshman year as well. Normally Dick wouldn't have cared but the captions were what had created the ruckus in which perfect strangers had come up to him saying how sweet he had looked with his baby girl.

So much for being taken seriously in the business world, not when his competition already knew he was softie when it came to his wife.

Veronica came back and soon was dancing with Logan and laughing as she whispered something in his ear. Dick saw Logan look his way and then chuckle before hugging his wife closer.

Looking around, Dick saw Weevil speaking quietly with his wife, Wallace dancing with Cora Biggs, the older sister of one of his students. Cora had gone to school with all of them back in the day and had reconnected with Wallace thanks to her brother.

His eyes narrowing when he saw his mother talking with Keith Mars, he heard his own wife talking to the sitter on the cell phone behind him and turned to ask "Does it look like Keith Mars is sitting a bit too close to my mother?"

Mac smiled at him, then after telling him that Sophie was asleep in the room upstairs said "Relax, she is leaving for Switzerland in the morning, Dick. They are just friends. She has been trying to set him up on a date for months."

"Oh, okay. As long as that date isn't with her." He warned. "We are getting along pretty well but if she was here, dating someone, I am not so sure we would keep getting along."

"Speaking of parents." Mac looked at hers; her dad had done well with the transplant and to her shock had joined a transplant recovery group with Abe Masters. She still kept her distance from the man who she still felt received her dad's first chance at recovering but he had tried to make amends over the last year.

"Where are Matt and Ellen?" Dick asked. He knew that Mac's biological parents had been invited.

"Dealing with Madison." She said shivering. Madison had married a much older man for his money and things had not gone as well as she had expected.

Madison was finding that being married in order to have kids was way more work that she had expected. Her forty nine year old husband had insisted on a fidelity clause that kept her close to home.

"Is that why Lauren left already?" He asked as he tugged her to the dance floor and held her close as they danced together.

"No, she had to leave for her shift at Neptune General." Mac replied then looking around saw that Logan was almost giddy. "You know, Veronica agreed to let him chose names for their children."

Giggling when Dick pouted, she said "I know about the Dicklet comment, Richard. Logan ratted you out for that one, for the watermelon, for all the rest of the nicknames."

"Besides, I thought you liked Sophie." Mac asked.

"I do, it's perfect." He said pressing a kiss to her lips. "I just want to renegotiate the responsibility of choosing the name of our next kid."

Laughing as Dick spun her around, she waited until he pulled her close again and said "Just what do you intend to bring to the table, Mr. Casablancas."

Leaning in to whisper what he had to offer up, he saw a shadow in the distance and when the music ended, he watched as Mac went to help Veronica change out of her wedding dress.

Following the shadow, Dick realized that the ghost he had seen was leading him to the beach. Standing there, watching the reception at a distance, he heard his watch beeping and gulped, knowing it was one minute after midnight.

"Happy thirtieth birthday, Cass." He said standing there, watching the waves. Mac had been supportive of Dick's intention to visit his brother's grave later that day, but Dick had come to realize that the past was just that, the past.

You couldn't change it; you could only face it and move on. He had made many, many mistakes over the years, but Dick was beginning to think that those mistakes were just as important as his successes now. They kept him from becoming his dad, from losing what meant the world to him.

He had almost lost what mattered the most due to miscommunication and fear, and then had compounded the mistake with a thirst for vengeance against an innocent.

Thankfully, his wife had the ability to forgive that was beyond his understanding.

"Man, what are you doing out here." Logan asked as he joined him. "I need your help to make sure that Wallace gets the garter belt."

Letting go of his past, Dick turned and said "Just watching the waves. So, let's go and find our wives."

"Who would have thought it fifteen years ago?" Logan asked quietly as they returned to the gaiety in the ballroom.

"Not me." Dick admitted. "I was so sure that I wouldn't live to be thirty, yet here I am thirty one years old, a dad and a husband to someone I adore. I can't believe it some days."

Grabbing two glasses off the passing tray heading into the party, Logan held up his and handed Dick one. "To marrying the girl you love."

"To being a dad and not screwing it up." Dick responded.

"To finding a purpose in life and living up to the expectations of the woman you love."

"To life." Dick said looking out at the waves. "And surviving all the crap we had thrown at us to get to this point."

They drank the champagne and Logan went to find his bride.

Dick watched amused as Mac subtlety moved Cora in place to get the bouquet, but Dick just went straight up and forced Wallace to catch the garter belt. Hearing laughter and joy in the room, Dick found his wife and kissed her, knowing that he had everything he needed and more than he had ever known was possible.

**The End.**


End file.
